Members of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles’ “Word Committee” said they meet once a month to try to keep dirty words off car number plates.
Committee members, all employees of the department, said they meet on the second Tuesday of every month and scrutinize applications for personalized license plates to make sure they do not contain concealed profanity or references to drugs, alcohol, gangs or crime, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Monday.
Melanie Stokes, who sits on the committee and serves as the department’s head of public relations, said a computer program weeds out the obvious banned combinations of letters and numbers before the committee, made up of people from all demographics, looks over those still in question.

Jon Cherry is a Director of leading personalised number plate dealer Regplates.com. Jon has over 25 years industry experience handling some of the most expensive plates ever sold with many high profile and celebrity clients. Active since 1991 in the number plate industry, Jon is currently Chairman of the Cherished Numbers Guild, a trade body representing number plate dealers in the UK. Jon has written many articles on the industry and insight into the future of numberplates and the market as a whole.