Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

In fact, when the DVLA issues a car’s registration plate, they actually follow a very distinct system.

While it may look like a random combination, a number plate can actually tell you how old the car is and where it was registered.

A new format for registrations was introduced in September 2001, meaning all cars registered after that date would have their number plate made up of three parts.

How to tell where the car is from

The first section of a number plate is the local memory tag – the first two letters of the plate.

This identifies where the vehicle was registered, and is itself broken down into two parts.

The first letter stands for the local area, for example E denotes Essex, while L stands for London.

The plate’s second letter then identifies at which DVLA office in that area the registration took place – multiple letters can signify the same DVLA office.

How anyone can tell how old your car is just by looking at it

The two numbers in the middle of your plate identify how old the car is.

The DVLA issues two lots of number plate combinations each year on March and September 1st.

All plates issued between the 1 March and the end of August will use the same two numbers as the year they are registered.

For example, a car registered in May 2017 would have “17”.

Vehicles registered between September 1 and the end of February the following year, use a similar pattern of higher numbers.

When the format changed in 2001, this group of vehicles were identified differently by starting the labelling from “51” rather than “01”.

Therefore this second lot of numbers will always be 50 plus the year the car was registered – so after 2010, the number starts with a 6.

For example, a vehicle registered in December 2009 will show “59” on its plate but December 2011 will be “61”.

Is any of the plate random?

The final three letters of the number plate tend to be a random combination that make the registration unique.

But it’s not uncommon for cars with neighbouring letter sequences to be from the same manufacturer, due to batch allocation of new registrations to dealers by the DVLA.

The letters “Q” and “I” are excluded from the random sequence, along with any phrases that are deemed offensive.

Using the current scheme, there will be a sufficient combinations to last until the end of February 2051.

What about registrations before September 2001?

From 1983 onward, licence plates used a leading single letter to represent the year of first registration.

The letter “A” was used in 1983, progressing through the alphabet, finishing with “Y” at the end of August 2001.

The rest of the characters on the plate were random.

Prior to 1983, the same system was used, but with the year letter at the end of the plate rather than the beginning.

A PETITION against a police chief's decision to sell the first number plate issued to the county has gathered over 850 signatures.

Retired police constable Alan Matthews started the online petition after he found out that the 'AB 1' licence plate was up for auction.

Police enthusiasts have lambasted the decision to sell the plate, which has traditionally been used on the staff cars of Worcestershire's Chief Constables.

West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) John Campion claims the sale will enable him to invest in frontline policing.

Mr Matthews, aged 69, who worked for West Mercia Police from 1985 to 1994, said: "It's a piece of police heritage that shouldn't be sold off.

"It was the original number that the chief had. I just think that there's other ways the PCC could save money.

"I'm getting quire ratty about it. When you have been in the police you see how much waste there is.

"It's a sad thing that people in the UK have so much history but don't think much of it."

Jon Cherry, the director of regplates.com, thinks the plate will sell for between £225,000 and £275,000.

He said: "We have sold similar plates recently at this level and the market for high quality original issue number 1 plates is very strong.

"The buyers of these are intent on having only the best and only this plate will suffice!"

Mr Campion said his priority is use the assets at his disposal to make West Mercia a safe place.

"The prospect of a chief constable or any public servant using a private number plate belongs in a time gone by, both for security reasons and public expectation," he said.

"Therefore a considered decision has been made to market ‘AB 1’ and any sale proceeds will be reinvested towards frontline policing in West Mercia."

He acknowledged the history behind the plate but said it had not been used for around six years.

A spokesman for Mr Campion said he was not selling anything else apart from the number plate.

Vehicle registration was introduced in 1903 and it is believed 'AB 1' was first issued to Worcestershire's Chief Constable Herbert Sutherland Walker in 1908.

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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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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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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 of London has the registration LB 0.

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Recently, Rishi Kapoor bought himself a new set of wheels - a shiny new luxury SUV - and took it out for a spin yesterday. Mumbai Mirror couldn't help but notice the common thing between Kapoor's cars, old and new - the number plate digits of all cars in this Kapoor household total up to '8'.

A source close to the family told the tabloid that the Kapoor trio - Rishi, Neetu and Ranbir - have always considered the number '8' very lucky for the family. When Ranbir purchased his first jeep back in the late 2000s, the number plate was a one digit, '8'. Later, two cars that followed, one a fiery red sports car and another sedan, too featured a single digit plate.

On the other hand, Neetu, whose driven a blue SUV for the last couple of years, also has a number plate that adds up to 8. "It's also because it coincides with Neetu's birthday, July 8, and everyone in the family makes sure that the registration number totals up to it," the source added pointing out that even Ranbir's football jerseys always have the same number.

The Kapoor clan's affinity for numerology comes as no surprise, since it's always been about digits with Bollywood stars. Amitabh Bachchan, whose birthday falls on October 11, considers his lucky number to be 2 and many of his dozen cars feature the single digit on their plate, three of which have been photographed at multiple events.

Similar for Shah Rukh Khan, who has a triple five (555) on all his number plates. Shahid Kapoor also makes sure to flaunt his lucky number 700 on his plates and even added a custom plate to his Harley Davidson, with the three digit figure on it. Saif Ali Khan sticks to the number 7, since his birthday falls on August 16 and Sanjay Dutt always has a 4545 plate.

Also in the News:

HALIFAX—A Nova Scotia man fighting to have his last name — Grabher — reinstated on a licence plate says police have now forced him to remove an inactive Alberta plate from the front of his car.

Lorne Grabher said he received a call from police Monday after a complaint was lodged against the personalized Alberta licence plate he had on the front of his car.

Nova Scotia requires only one valid plate, at the rear, and drivers in the province often place inactive or novelty plates on the front of their vehicles.

Grabher says police told him he would face a stiff penalty for driving with a fraudulent plate if he did not remove the Alberta plate, which had his last name on it in capitalized letters.

The 69-year-old man said he feels he’s being unfairly targeted.

“I’ve been red-flagged,” he said from his Dartmouth home, noting the large number of vehicles in the province that have inactive out-of-province plates on the front.

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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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