A Long Island grandfather finds himself in a bit of a predicament after his humorously themed license plate was revoked by the DMV. Now, he’s reaching out to the governor, hoping for some intervention.
Seth Bykofsky, 69, was taken aback when his personalized license plate reading “PB4WEGO” was suddenly deemed unacceptable in January. He argues it’s nothing more than a harmless dad joke and shouldn’t be considered offensive.
“I’ve driven with it through at least 15 different states, both conservative and liberal, and it always brings smiles,” Bykofsky shared with The Post. “Once, a police officer even pulled up next to me at a light just to say he got a kick out of the plate.”
In January, the West Hempstead resident received a letter from the Department of Motor Vehicles stating that their “rigorous screening process” found “PB4WEGO” no longer met their compliance standards.
“All I want is to give people a reason to smile and a little chuckle, especially in times when laughter is much needed,” he explained.
When you gotta go, you gotta go
Reluctantly, Bykofsky swapped out his beloved plate for a standard one with a random assortment of letters and numbers.
“No one I have met anywhere who’s seen the plate or talked about the plate has found it offensive in the least bit,” he said. “It’s clever, it’s comical, it’s witty, and it’s a phrase that every parent and grandparent says.”
After all, he coined the contraction based on years of personal experience with his own two children and later four grandkids.
“You get on the road and 10 minutes in – nowhere near a rest stop: ‘Dad, I have to go, or pops, I need to go. Well, pee before we go!” Bykofsky said.
“In fact, my children, who are no longer little kids, complain. ‘Dad, when we had to go to the bathroom when we were little, you never would stop.’”
Bykofsky — who said that no inspiration came from the famous “Assman” episode of “Seinfeld” — had wanted the plates for decades, but until recently, “it was never available.”
“I had asked for it a number of times,” according to Bykofsky, who added that “everybody in the family thought it was adorable” once it finally reached their driveway.
“My grandkids would laugh. They’d laugh so hard that I have to say to them, ‘Don’t laugh so hard because you’ll have to pee!’”
Bykofsky said he is now appealing directly to Gov. Kathy Hochul to step in.
“This is all funny, and in the scheme of things that are going on in the country, in the world, it’s meaningless…But on a personal level, I think we have some rights that truly should not be abridged,” he said.
“As silly as it is, on the one hand, and it’s definitely administrative overreach to me, it’s also a way of stifling free speech. What will come next?”
He is hopeful that Hochul will follow the lead of former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who personally allowed a local woman named Wendy Auger to keep her plates with the same message in 2019.
“I’ve been in touch with her to say that we’re kindred spirits. We have the support of the people in New Hampshire,” Bykofsky said.
“Their state motto is ‘Live Free or Die.’ Well, in my case, it’s ‘live free, or pee before we go.’”
Whatever happens, Bykofsky has a contingency plan if New York State doesn’t relieve him of his number one issue.
“If I don’t win this battle, I’m simply going to have them framed and put up in my bathroom,” he said in defiance of DMV orders to destroy the plates.
“I’ve seen much more insulting things on cars.”
