Driver offended by “WH0 R8X” license plate
A Missouri driver did not appreciate the message she saw on the state issued license plate that she recently received. KTVI Fox 2 News reported that Deb Levy’s new plate read “WH0 R8X” something she was offended by and felt could be read as, “whore eight times.” It’s a message, placed below the state’s nickname the “Show Me State,” that is insulting to Deb.
In KTVI’s report the upset driver said, “I’m driving around with that plate and people go, ‘Oh there’s a [bleep]. There’s a [bleep].’” She added, “Who wants to drive around with that word on the back of your car? Would you?” Deb’s teen daughter Abigail agrees with her mother saying, “Yeah it’s probably not a good idea to drive it.”
So the Missouri mom has decided to keep the expired license plate on her car’s bumper and carry the current plate inside the car just in case a police officer stops her. Deb filed a complaint with the state and asked for a replacement but was told that she would have to pay a fee of $17. While the cost is seemingly small the Missouri driver said, “It is not about the money, but when I showed it to them they said it just said, ‘Who.’…Can you spell?” Still, some commenters on the station’s story wrote that they see no problem with the plate and also read it as, “Who R8X.”
KTVI stepped in to help Deb calling the Missouri Department of Revenue, the state’s agency that issues license plates, and was able to get officials to issue a replacement plate free of charge. Deb was grateful but said, “It took Channel 2 to make this happen and why, why should it take a news station to make something simple like this happen?”
The station also reported that the plate in question was generated based on a standard formula, meaning that there are other MO plates that would have a similar combination of letters and numbers. To which Deb said, “That’s just not right.”
Video and more info: KTVI
