Top 5 highest priced number plates in the Uk are as follows:
5
Plate: VIP 1
Price: £285,000
Buyer: Roman Abramovich
Date: 2006
The UK’s most famous Russian oil oligarch, whose net worth is an estimated £8.4bn, bought VIP 1 as a nice little boost to his self-esteem. Abramovich was planning on putting the plate on his prized pre-facelift second generation green Fiat Punto, but he decided on his Rolls-Royce Corniche IV instead.
4
Plate: M1
Price: £331,500
Buyer: Mike McCoomb
Date: 2006
After Mike McCoomb sold his mobile phone company to BT for around £40m, a number plate seemed a nice way to parade his new wealth. We’re not sure what plate he bought for himself though, because this one was for his ten-year-old son. Apparently the boy was furious – he’d specifically asked for a Play-Doh Barber Shop.
3
Plate: 1D
Price: £352,411
Buyer: Nabil Bishara
Date: 2009
Lebanese property developer Nabil Bishara paid this staggering price at an auction in Warwickshire, in March 2009. He bought it for his wife’s Bentley as a surprise present.
2
Plate: S1
Price: £404,063
Buyer: Anonymous
Date: 2008
September 2008 saw the purchase of Edinburgh’s first registered number plate, at a Bonhams auction in Chichester. The bidder said, perhaps sarcastically, that the plate would be registered to “an old red Skoda.”
1
Plate: F1
Price: £440,625
Buyer: Afzal Khan
Date: 2008
Afzal Khan, owner of car styling company Project Kahn, is officially the owner of the UK’s most expensive plate. He first put it on his Mercedes-McLaren SLR, though we recently saw it on Mr Khan’s white Bugatti Veyron parked in his Bradford showroom.

Jon Cherry is a Director of leading personalised number plate dealer Regplates.com. Jon has over 25 years industry experience handling some of the most expensive plates ever sold with many high profile and celebrity clients. Active since 1991 in the number plate industry, Jon is currently Chairman of the Cherished Numbers Guild, a trade body representing number plate dealers in the UK. Jon has written many articles on the industry and insight into the future of numberplates and the market as a whole.