Portland car owner fights to keep custom number plates after VicRoads recall

A man has vowed to take his fight to keep his classic car's number plate through the courts if he has to after VicRoads told him they had to go.

Peter Hansen's plight to save his WEPN plates has attracted plenty of media attention and led to a change.org petition which has already attracted more than 8800 signatures.

The personalised plates have been on his 1971 LC Torana since 2010 after his wife's family gave them to him as a gift.

Mr Hansen uses the car at Portland's South Coast Raceway drag racing events, to display at car shows and for the odd trip to the supermarket.

If he's taking it to display at a car show that is more than 100kms away, Mr Hansen - a sandblaster and spraypainter by trade - will put it on a trailer so the paintwork doesn't get chipped by loose gravel from the road.

He had planned to use his HZ Holden to tow the Torana, and his wife had applied to get WEPN2 licence plates to match as a present for his birthday next month.

But VicRoads rejected the application, and then days later also cancelled the plates he'd had on the Torana for 10 years.

Mr Hansen said he had gone through the appeals process, was awaiting a response from the ombudsman and will lodge it with the Victorian Civil Administration Tribunal.

"I'll got to court if I can. They can offer me money to go away tomorrow. It's not about the money," he said. "At the end of the day all I want is my number plates back on the principle of the matter."

Mr Hansen said there had been no complaints about his number plate.

A Department of Transport spokesperson said number plate combinations were reviewed from time to time and occasionally recalled those that may be deemed inappropriate or offensive.