A CAR with licence plates spruiking an inappropriate internet slang term has been spotted driving through Bulleen despite VicRoads staff checking every custom plate for inappropriate language.

The blue Holden with the custom plate ‘FAP2IT’ was seen on Manningham Rd on Wednesday night.

The term ‘fap’ is common internet slang for a lewd act, popularised when the mass leaking of nude celebrity photos last year was dubbed ‘The Fappening’.

Car owner Daniel Van Der Horst said he had had the plates for a few months and VicRoads had approved his application without issue.

“Who is it offensive to?” he said.

“It is purely for the fun of making people laugh.”

Mr Van Der Horst said he had dozens of people taking photos of the car every day and no one had ever expressed any offence.

He said VicRoads’ pledge to potentially recall his plates was “a bit far-fetched”.

“VicRoads can choose what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable because there has to be a limit,” he said.

“But if the plates aren’t really going to offend many people then they should be allowed.”

VicRoads commercial enterprises and business development executive director Adrian Tofful said they would review the ‘FAP2IT’ combination and recall the plate if necessary.

“A key challenge for VicRoads is the fact that community values change over time, as well as what people may or may not find offensive,” Mr Tofful said.

He said each application for custom plates was manually assessed by staff and would be rejected if they included inappropriate language or sexual references.

“Given that there are countless custom plate combinations, it’s occasionally necessary to reject or withdraw certain combinations if they are deemed inappropriate,” he said.

VicRoads refused 135 inappropriate custom plates last year.

“Custom plates are a popular product within the community with approximately 30,000 new sets sold each year,” Mr Tofful said.

An automated combination check on VicRoad’s custom plates website cleared Manningham Leader to use other phrases involving the word “fap”.

The automation rejected more commonly used swear words as inappropriate.