Yeah square plates on the front are fine on jap imports, would a copper know if it was imported or UK spec roadside?
Nope, jap plates are not fine on any car on the front because there's no reason why you could not fit standard UK plate. They are ok at the back because standard UK plates physically won't fit. I carry UK standard square plate in my car just so I can prove this should the police question it. I have a standard UK plate on the front and Jap style plate on the rear. I was also given a Jap style front plate by one of previous owners of my car and I looked up the requirements:
The characters on number plates purchased from 1 September 2001, will need to meet the following specifications.
n Character height 79mm
n Character width (except the figure 1 or letter I) 50mm
n Character stroke 14mm
n Space between characters 11mm
n Space between groups 33mm
n Top, bottom and side margins (minimum) 11mm
n Vertical space between groups 19mm
So I took a ruler and the front Jap plate which I have lying home and measured it:
Character height: 65mm
Character width: 42mm
Character stroke: 11mm
As you can see the lettering is clearly smaller than required. Legally you can have a square number plate, just not jap style.
I also doubt that anyone will get pulled for jap plates, but lets say you were speeding, the cops saw you but did not manage to clock you. So what do they do? Pull you over and look for something else. And yes, you can be fined up to £1000 fir not having the correct plates. So it's like with anything else, down to the owner really to weight the risks and benefits. To me the benefit of Jap plate is zero and so I am happy to have standard plate on the front of my car. One less reason for the rozzers to screw me over if I accidentally (ehm...) exceed the speed limit.
EDIT: Nice MR2 you had there Kam, I' ve always had a soft spot for them but never actually owned one!