A Chesterfield telecoms boss has told the DVLA to naff off after the agency accidentally sold him the entertaining numberplate "BO11 LUX", then ordered him to remove it from his car.

Alan Clarke, 49, spunked £399 last November down at the agency's website to grab the 'nads-themed plate, and slapped it on his new Range Rover. He said: "On 1 March, when I picked up the car, I immediately put the plate on. Everyone just bursts out laughing when they see it and it's unique."

However, as the Daily Mail explains, a couple of days later, Clarke was tailed by cops who he suspects grassed him to the DVLA.

In mid-April, he got "a very strongly worded letter" insisting the plate shouldn't have been offered for sale. He elaborated: "They said it was causing offence and I had to remove it, and they are threatening to criminalise me. But they are a government agency and they put the plate on their own website for anyone to buy so it's 100 per cent legal."

A DVLA spokesman disagreed. He said: "Many people enjoy displaying a personalised registration number and the vast majority of numbers are made available, but we have a responsibility to ensure that the combinations used do not cause offence.

"DVLA tries to identify combinations that may cause offence, and on the rare occasion where potentially offensive numbers slip through the net, steps are taken to withdraw the registration number. This particular registration plate has been withdrawn, therefore it is an offence for the driver to still be displaying it. He would receive a refund for the plate."

Clarke is having none of it. He's already returned a replacement plate the DVLA sent him, and insisted: "I'm not backing down on this, it's my own personal plate and I'm not taking it off." ®