The ruling upholds an appeal lodged by the Department of Justice against a magistrate's decision last year in which a BMW driver, with car registration number 'HE 1107', was found not guilty of displaying his licence plate as 'HE110 7', making it resemble 'HELLO 7'.

But it seems 'HELLO' is a popular number plate.

Winnie Yu, deputy chairwoman of Commercial Radio, has a number plate, HE 110, that reads as 'HELLO' on one of her cars, a black Porsche.

The Transport Department yesterday said the new ruling sent a clear signal to vehicle owners. 'They must separate the letters and numbers so that the registration number can be easily recognised,' a spokesman said, adding that the department would decide on further action after reading the court judgment.

Justice Pang Kin-kee, in the Court of First Instance, ruled that the road traffic regulations governing the display of registration plates clearly required numbers and letters to be separated into two distinct groups.

In overturning the lower court decision, Mr Justice Pang said the magistrate overlooked the requirements of the law.

A car owner was not allowed to arrange the letters and numbers of his licence plate at whim, the judge said.

He said the same law required licence plates to be displayed in an easily identifiable manner.

Chan Kit-ying was charged last year with violating the traffic law after being stopped by police in June 2003. The police officer read his BMW's plate as 'HELLO 7'. But Mr Chan was found not guilty.

Mr Chan, who did not appear in court yesterday, will have to return to court for another hearing in due course. He must also inform the judge whether he wants to have a retrial in the lower court or face a penalty imposed by Justice Pang.

Commercial Radio station staff said Ms Yu, who owns a number of cars, drove the black Porsche with the HE 110 plate to work on Thursday. But yesterday she drove another car, a Jaguar.

A station spokesman said Ms Yu would not answer questions on the issue.