Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

Following the astounding America's Cup success one cheeky Kiwi is auctioning off a TEAMNZ number plate on Trade Me - with a starting bid of $20,000.

The user floppy9 has listed the plate from Taranaki. It urged buyers to "be the first to show them off around the streets of New Zealand".

Peter Burling was at the helm for Emirates Team New Zealand this week, when the Kiwis overwhelmed holders Oracle Team USA 7-1 to lift the Auld Mug off Bermuda on June 27.

Three bids had already been placed at the time of writing, bringing the total up to $20,100.

One buyer suggested a trade with their "ORACLE" plate that they wanted to get rid of.

Floppy9 advised to hold on to it until the next America's Cup as a good investment.

The seller divulged in the Questions and Answers section that they had bought the plates a very long time ago. They said the successful bidder would receive brand new plates instead of the ones pictured.

The Perak Road Transport Department (JPJ) is receiving many enquiries about three unique vehicle registration numbers that resemble the Malay phrase "Aku Boss" (I am the boss).

State JPJ director-general Mohd Zawawi Zakaria said they were expecting many bids for the vehicle registration numbers AKU 805, AKU 8055 and AKU 1305 over the next two weeks.

"The bidding starts today and ends on July 18," he told reporters at the JPJ building here.

There are three categories of numbers being offered, namely golden numbers, attractive numbers and popular numbers.

Mohd Zawawi said there is a minimum RM10,000 bid for golden numbers (1 to 10), RM2,000 for attractive numbers (11 to 19) and repetitive numbers (e.g., 22, 777, 9999), while bids for popular numbers start from RM300.

"Even though 805, 8055 and 1305 are normal running numbers, these numbers will be listed under the popular numbers category due to expected demand," he said.

However, he warned the potential winner of the AKU 1305 number to ensure JPJ specifications for registration plates are followed and not to place the "1" and "3" numbers so close together that it reads like a "B".
Read more at

---

The first series of number plates were issued in 1903 and ran until 1932, using the series A 1 to YY 9999. The letter or pair of letters indicated the local authority in whose area the vehicle was registered, for example A - London, B - Lancashire, C - West Riding of Yorkshire. In England and Wales the letter codes were initially allocated in order of population size (by the 1901 census) whilst Scotland and Ireland had their own sequences incorporating the letters S" and "I" respectively, which were allocated alphabetically: IA = Antrim, IB = Armagh, etc. When a licensing authority reached 9999, it was allocated another two letter mark, but there was no pattern to these subsequent allocations as they were allocated on a first come first served basis. There are three interesting anomalies where a zero has been issued - The Lord Provost of Edinburgh has S 0 and his Glasgow counterpart has G 0 while the official car of the Lord Provost of Aberdeen has RG 0. In addition the Lord Mayor

---

Fake number plates top the list of the many challenges the government and traffic police are going to face in implementing its clean-up plan for the Capital. According to norms, a number plate can be procured only from an authorised dealer and after producing the RC of the vehicle and other related documents.

However, when DNA accessed the black market, the reality seemed different. Shops providing fake registration number plates not only put on display a number of designs and styles but also did not bother to ask for document or ID proof.

"We have number plates starting from Rs 250 and the costliest is Rs 3,500. While the cheapest one has sticker digits, styles vary from stylish embossed fonts to illuminated digits with custom-made logos," said a dealer who owns a shop in Noida's sector 16 car market.

Another dealer, who has a shop in Connaught Place, says that a simple number plate would cost Rs 800 while a legal one with holograms can only be made after the customer provides transport authority's approval. "Last year, during the scheme, demand for fake number plates was high, the same is expected this year," he said.

When asked about the flourishing hidden business of fake registration number plates — which can lead to a severe national security threat — a senior traffic police officer said, "The only way this market can be curbed is to conduct raids on such shops and take legal action."

Price range
Rs 250 to 500 with sticker digits, simple, non-styled

Rs 500 to 1000 embossed stylish digits, custom made designs, change of language

Rs 1200 to 3500 number plates with fancy lights, golden silver design, change of fonts

Hidden Business
Shops at Connaught Place, Kashmere Gate, Karol Bagh and NCR provide fake number plates

Price range varies from Rs 250 to 3500 depending upon style

No vehicle-related document or ID proof required.

---

In 1989 a lot of these stored old models were registered in advance of legislation that required all new vehicles registered on or after 1 January 1990 to have catalytic converters fitted. This included vehicles held in storage and out of production for several years, in some cases five years or more. By the late 1990s, the range of available numbers was once again starting to run out, exacerbated by a move to biannual changes in registration letters (March and September) in 1999 to smooth out the bulge in registrations every August, so a new scheme needed to be adopted. It was decided to research a system that would be easier for crash or vehicle related crime witnesses to remember and clearer to read, yet still fit within a normal standard plate size.

---

Dubai: U66, Z777 and M2222 will be among 80 unique number plates up for grabs at the Roads and Transport Authority’s (RTA) 94th open auction on March 11.
Registration for the year’s first auction, which will be held at Emirates Towers’ Godolphin Ballroom, will open from March 4.

The last two auctions of last year generated huge interests with single digit plate D5 going for Dh33 million in October, while the plate number Q2 on offer in December went unsold despite massive expectations.

“The recent open auctions saw huge footfall from various community segments. This has promoted us to offer another chance for the public to engage in positive bidding for their fancied numbers in various codes,” Sultan Al Marzouqi, Director of Vehicle Licensing at RTA.

The numbers on offer range from two and three digits to four and five digits, including S90000 and U66.

During the auction, plate N572 will be on offer through a draw for the participants.

“Interested bidders can register in RTA’s Customers Happiness Centres at Umm Al Romool, Deira and Al Barsha. They can also register through RTA’s website (www.rta.ae), or Drivers and Vehicles app, and each participant is required to have a traffic file in Dubai,” said Al Marzouqi.

Registration for the auction will remain open until the day of the auction, and bidding will start at 4.30pm.

---

Since the dvla introduced the bsau145d legislation it has been increasingly difficult for motorists to obtain number plates with anything other than legal spacing.

There is however another line of argument for the defence of the serial mis spacer. They say that a number plate that has been altered to make a word or a name is much more memorable in the event of an incident.
They also argue that the dvla blatantly auction registration numbers that would be virtually worthless without mis spacing.

---