UK Regulations for Side Marker Lamps on Private Cars

Google for the SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) manual, as it's online somewhere now, and that should tell you the basics.

mlv ( snipped-for-privacy@jet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Google for Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations.

Compulsory on anything over 6m long.

Surely we have enough trouble with Conor without another wannabe lorry driver ;-)

Emerging bleary-eyed from beneath the duvet, Adrian staggered across to the keyboard and triped:

Done that!

Yes, I read that. However, the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations are inconclusive as to whether it is legal to have side marker lamps on a private car that is less than 6m long.

In other words, although the car doesn't need side marker lights by law, would it be illegal to fit them?

The situation is, I'm going to remove some naff 'boy-racer' emblems from the front wings of my car and I know that will leave one oval hole in each wing. I was considering filling the holes with amber LED side marker lamps connected into the side-light circuit. Otherwise I'll fit alternative, more subtle emblems.

mlv ( snipped-for-privacy@jet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Have a look at any Volvo S/V40. They seem to have 'em from the factory.

Focus ST?

Hercule Poirot's protégé Adrian considered the evidence and concluded:

Spot on - but not that wild if you read my earlier post ;-)

mlv ( snipped-for-privacy@jet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Ah, I didn't.

Why not just get some lowly-spec Focus side repeaters and shove 'em in there to be used AS side-repeaters. They'll look less naff than side markers would...

(But, fwiw, I agree with you. Ford were smoking some serious shit when they put those awful bodgeplates in the spare holes. Why they didn't just do a batch of wings without the holes, I do not know.

That's the plan, except as the actual indicator side-repeaters are only a gnat's whisker away (built into the door mirrors), I was considering using them as side-markers instead - providing their size, shape, location, style, whatever, doesn't contravene the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations. They would be permanently lit with the side lights using amber LEDs. Maybe they're to high up to be classified as side markers, I don't know.

AFAIK, the naff ST 'wing' emblems are specific to the UK. In other countries Ford fit the neat chrome 'Focus' oval emblem, like they fit to the Focus cabriolet in the UK. Of course, fitting those is another option for me. However, I would have preferred wings with 'no holes', given the choice.

mlv ( snipped-for-privacy@jet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Whatever, they'd look unbelievably gash...

And by far the most tasteful one.

You have the choice. It's going to involve a trip to a bodyshop, and parting with money, but the choice exists...

They would look just like standard Ford side repeaters. No better, no worse. But I agree they would be gash, as in surplus to requirements.

You're probably correct, but it's good to consider all the options.

Right now my challenge is finding out how best to remove the naff ST 'wing' emblems without damaging the paintwork. I guess the emblems are both stuck on and clipped into the oval hole in the wing.

mlv ( snipped-for-privacy@jet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

But illuminated all the time. THAT's what would look gash.

No, pay attention - not all the time - only when the vehicle lights are on.

Side marker lamps, not daytime running lights.

BTW, 'gash' (as slang) means 'surplus to requirements'.

mlv ( snipped-for-privacy@jet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It's in the dark that they'll look most shit, anyway.

I've always heard it used to describe something of very poor quality, and - ignoring the sexual meanings - Urban Dictionary would seem to side with my understanding (and use) of the term in this context.

The message from "mlv" contains these words:

That may be regional then. Where I grew up in Kent it meant broken or damaged or useless.

Same here in the Forest of Dean

-- Malc

The RVLR states that any 'optional' lamps must comply with the same regulations as mandatory lamps (RVLR 1989, Part II, section 20, item 9)

So basically, as long as the side marker lights that you fit are intended for use as side marker lights, then you should be ok.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "mlv" saying something like:

#In the Navy...

Where I come from it means Lady Bits!

And that too in the Forest, but thankfully I haven't heard that phrase for a while.