Re: And this ladies and gentlemen...
It's certainly reasonable to expect an ANPR robot, or a parking enforcement officer, to understand the difference even if the owner of the plate doesn't. (I just sold a car with 03OU as the first digits.)
Bloody hell, MISRA compliance checkers know the difference when looking at variable names and sulk if they see one where it can be misread by a fleshy meatsack.