Man has license plate recalled after 'LUVTOFU' is deemed to be vulgar

A man has spoken out after being forced to remove his personalised license plate on account of it being 'interpreted as vulgar'.

In January, Peter Starostecki says he received a letter from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) demanding he remove and replace his car's personalised license plate.

As per WGME, Maine state officials said two letters in the numberplate could be 'interpreted as vulgar'.

However, the car owner has since argued he had 'no ill intentions' and is 'just a vegan'.

But what does being vegan have to do with any of it?

WGME

Well, Starostecki's personalised numberplate reads: "LUVTOFU."

And despite the vegan's passionate love of tofu, it's hard not to see the other meaning which could be interpreted from the numberplate if you space out the letters into three abbreviated words opposed to two.

Starostecki argues no one's ever told him 'it's inappropriate' before. - the vehicle featuring stickers on it which point to his lifestyle as a vegan and which subsequently indicate the numberplate doesn't intentionally have the more raunchy meaning.

The vegan tells WGME: "I've never had anybody come up and be aggressive to me, flip me off, tell me it's inappropriate.

"Every time I get a comment about it, it's something positive."

WGME

In response to receiving a letter from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles demanding he remove the number plate, Starostecki attended an online hearing to appeal.

However, his appeal was swiftly rejected, the vegan reflecting: "From the beginning it felt like they sort of had their minds made up."

Despite viewing the banning of his number plate as a potential violation of his freedom of speech - "It's my small protest to say I stand for going away from using animal products" - Starostecki notes he does agree with the state that vulgar number plates shouldn't be allowed on cars.

WGME

Director of Communications for the Secretary of State Emily Cook explained: "The license plate is owned by the state and there is no right to force the state to have these sort of words and slogans."

According to the Associated Press, Maine has recalled 274 plates so far this year and has rejected every single person's appeal to keep their personalised plate.

Starostecki has been offered a number plate reading 'V3GAN' according to Cook.

Starostecki declined the plate and has reverted back to a non-personalised one, but notes he wouldn't rule out creating a unique one again in the future.