Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

ITP had launched a 15-day campaign for awareness among road users to remove unauthorised or non-patterned number plates from their vehicles and bikes.

The campaign was launched under the directions of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, with the purpose to ensure high security alert, and maintain law and order situation in the capital.

The campaign will end after two days on April 15 after which strict legal action will be taken against drivers whose vehicles have non-patterned number plates.

All such number plates would be considered fake and a fine would be imposed on such vehicle owners. The Traffic SSP had sent letters to government and private organisations regarding this campaign. He also appealed that the citizens cooperate with ITP and display authorised number plates issued by Excise and Taxation Office.


Bidders allowed to purchase an unlimited number of private vehicle number plates in Kingdom's first ever public auction
05 : 59 PM - 12/04/2017
Manama, Apr. 12 (BNA): The first public auction of private vehicle number plates will take place at 18:00 on 13 April at the Isa Sports City Hall D, adjacent to the Bahrain National Stadium.


The auction, organised by Mazad, will open for registration between 11:00 to 17:00 on 13 April. In line with the company’s commitment to fairness and transparency, Mazad has announced that there will be a set amount of seats available for non-participating members of the public, which will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.

Mr Talal Arif Alaraifi, CEO of Mazad, stated that the fast track service opened to all interested parties generated a large amount of interest at all locations, including at the Notary Office, Gosi Commercial Complex, and the Bahrain Investors Centre in Bahrain Financial Harbour.

Mr Alaraifi also highlighted that all the necessary procedures have been put in place ahead of the auction, and that the successful preparation is a reflection of the wide-ranging stakeholder engagement that has been undertaken. Mr Alaraifi also noted that a separate office for issuing power of attorney will be allocated in the auction venue.

The CEO called on those wishing to participate in the auction to bring all necessary documentation to the venue, including ID cards, and to ensure they have signed the participation form. Mr Alaraifi noted that company owners can register in the name of their companies through individuals authorised by law, and provide original power of attorney documentation at the event.

Mr Al Araifi further noted that regardless of nationality, bidders registered to participate will be able to purchase an unlimited number of private vehicle number plates. Buyers must complete the payment process within ten days, and upon completion of payment will be provided with an official certificate of ownership and have the freedom to use and/or assign the private number plate.

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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.

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The original NSW licence plate No. 4 sold under the hammer on Monday night for $2.45 million, setting an Australian record.

Chinese-Australian wine collector and sex toy magnate Peter Tseng bought the rare collector’s item before a crowd of 300 people at the 2017 Shannons Sydney Winter Classic Auction, who applauded when the hammer fell on his purchase.

Mr Tseng, who arrived in his red Ferrari bearing the No. 2 licence plate, is a renowned number plate collector, owning the Hong Kong-registered No. 1 number plate and a personalised licence plate “ONE” registered to his 1969 Mercedes in Sydney.

Mr Tseng is understood to have bought the 1910-registered plate from entrepreneur Steve Shelley, co-founder of workforce management software company Deputy and owner of the Burraneer mansion “Nautilus”, which won Australian House of the Year last year.

The No. 4 plates were last seen on Shelley’s dual cab ute before it was registered at the Shannons auction with a guide of $1.2 million to $1.4 million.

After an opening bid of $1 million, bids quickly rose in $100,000 lots between two buyers until Mr Tseng raised his hand at the $1.35 million level. Mr Tseng did not put his hand down throughout the auction, leaving it raised for the next 22 bids until the mystery underbidder – known only as “Ray” – dropped out.

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The original NSW licence plate No. 4 sold under the hammer on Monday night for $2.45 million, setting an Australian record.

Chinese-Australian wine collector and sex toy magnate Peter Tseng bought the rare collector’s item before a crowd of 300 people at the 2017 Shannons Sydney Winter Classic Auction, who applauded when the hammer fell on his purchase.

Mr Tseng, who arrived in his red Ferrari bearing the No. 2 licence plate, is a renowned number plate collector, owning the Hong Kong-registered No. 1 number plate and a personalised licence plate “ONE” registered to his 1969 Mercedes in Sydney.

The crowd at the number plate auction applauded when Peter Tseng made his record purchase.
The crowd at the number plate auction applauded when Peter Tseng made his record purchase.

Mr Tseng is understood to have bought the 1910-registered plate from entrepreneur Steve Shelley, co-founder of workforce management software company Deputy and owner of the Burraneer mansion “Nautilus”, which won Australian House of the Year last year.

The No. 4 plates were last seen on Shelley’s dual cab ute before it was registered at the Shannons auction with a guide of $1.2 million to $1.4 million.

After an opening bid of $1 million, bids quickly rose in $100,000 lots between two buyers until Mr Tseng raised his hand at the $1.35 million level. Mr Tseng did not put his hand down throughout the auction, leaving it raised for the next 22 bids until the mystery underbidder – known only as “Ray” – dropped out.

Peter Tseng arrived at the auction in his red Ferrari, which bears the No. 2 licence plate.
Peter Tseng arrived at the auction in his red Ferrari, which bears the No. 2 licence plate.

The sale result – at more than $1 million above the highest guide expectations – was the most expensive item sold on the night, which included car memorabilia like the 1920s Michelin Compressor and a 1924 Rolls Royce Barker cabriolet that sold for $123,000. The second most expensive item sold on the night was a 1960 Mercedes Benz Roadster 190SL for $195,000.

The $2.45 million sale result is double Sydney’s median house price and matched the recent sales of a renovated three-bedroom, two-bathroom Victorian semi on Woollahra’s Roslyndale Avenue, and a Californian bungalow also with three bedrooms on almost 600 square metres on Macpherson Street in Cremorne.

Like most single-digit number plates, the No. 4 number plate is known for its ownership providence, most notably when it was registered to the Rolls Royce of Aussie John Symond, founder and executive chairman of Aussie Home Loans.

Sources have come forward to reveal Aussie John sold the plate in late 2015 to art collector and leading Brett Whiteley art dealer Steve Nasteski in late 2015 for about $850,000.​

Mr Nasteski is another well known number plate collector, having bought as many as eight rare two-digit number plates from the late stockbroker Rene Rivkin in 2004 through Nasser Elkordi, an associate of John Ibrahim and former flatmate of radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands.

Despite Nasteski’s penchant for number plates, he sold the No. 4 plate last year to Mr Shelley for between $800,000 and $900,000.

At that level, Mr Shelley would have made a windfall of more than $1.6 million on the number plate in the 18 months he owned it.

Mr Tseng featured in the 2013 Australian documentary film, Red Obsession, narrated by Russell Crowe, which tracked the dramatic rise and fall in the price of French wines between 2011 and 2012.

Monday night’s auction is expected to set a new benchmark in the cost of single-digit plates. Mr Tseng’s purchase of the No. 2 plate set a record at $750,000 that was topped in 2008 when the No. 6 number plate sold for $800,000.

The No. 1 plate is owned by the family of the late founding chairman of Australian National Airways, Sir Frederick Stewart, who had owned it since the 1930s.

In Victoria, single-digit number plates are also investment-grade assets. The No. 1 VIC plate is owned by former Foster’s Group chief Peter Bartels.

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In 1963, numbers were running out once again, and an attempt was made to create a national scheme to alleviate the problem. The three letter, up to three number system was kept, but a letter suffix was added, which changed every year. In this scheme, numbers were drawn from the range AAA 1A to YYY 999A for the first year, then AAA 1B to YYY 999B for the second year, and so on. Some areas did not adopt the year letter for the first two years, sticking to their own schemes, but in 1965 adding the year letter was made compulsory. As well as yielding many more available numbers, it was a handy way for vehicle buyers to know the age of the vehicle immediately. At first the year letter changed on 1 January every year, but car retailers started to notice that buyers would tend to wait until the New Year for the new letter to be issued, so that they could get a newer" car. This led to major peaks and troughs in sales over the year, and to help flatten this out somewhat the industry lobbied

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A number plate owner has had their number plate withdrawn by the DVLA after a member of the public complained to police that it spelt 'jihad'.

The Ford Fiesta was driven around with the personalised plate for six months before it was reported to officials.

Licence bosses have now banned the plate which was written JH11 HAD and sent the owner a replacement.

The car was reported after it was spotted driving around Newport, Gwent.

One woman who reported it to police after she saw it being driven in her home city said: "How can this be allowed with everything that is going on in the world at the moment?

"I have told the police about it and they said they would make a note of it.

"Surely this plate cannot be legal?"

A DVLA spokesman said the personalised plate had been bought in October last year and had "slipped through the net" of offensive registrations.

The spokesman said: "We try to identify all combinations that may cause offence, and on the rare occasion where potentially offensive numbers slip through the net, steps are taken to withdraw the number.

"As soon as we became aware of this last week we withdrew it and would have then sent a replacement plate."

Plates resembling the word 'jihad', which literally means striving or struggling in Arabic, and is associated with the concept of 'holy war', are unavailable, for example plates starting with JE and ending HAD.

Others which are banned include HO57 AGE, a close match to "hostage", and the chain of characters O54 MA because of its resemblance to the name Osama.

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Overseas territories

Some of the British overseas territories, including Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, use similar number plates to the UK, with the same colours and typeface.

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