Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

A number plate owner has had their number plate withdrawn by the DVLA after a member of the public complained to police that it spelt 'jihad'.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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It should be noted that there are no restrictions on using a vanity or cherished registration on a car that is newer than the original date of the registration plate, but it is prohibited to transfer a registration that is newer than the vehicle it is used on. This is to prevent the transfer of newer registrations to older vehicles as a measure to protect consumers.

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Trevor, or Stretch to his mates because he is "very tall”, is a mine worker who loves his car so much that his choice of numberplate had to reflect that passion.

The GT4EVA plates take pride of place on his XY GT Falcon.

"I just wanted to put some numberplates on it that stood out from the rest,” Trevor said.

He is one of 3644 Rockhampton region residents who in the past year have personalised their vehicle with unique numberplates.

The plates cost from $165 to $3300 and the region is home to a wide array of unique registrations including these beauties: OMG MUD, HIP100, L1VE1T, C1NDYS, SPUNKYB and FORD36.

For some people, personalised plates are like chips - you can't have just one.

And Trevor is a prime example of that.

He has MAC392 on his Mustang and he also has TKD11 (his initials and date of birth) on another vehicle and SRD12 on his partner's car.

"I just love them - it just makes your car different to everybody else's,” Trevor said.

Personalised Plates Queensland managing director Jemma Elder said more than 750,000 personalised plates had been issued.

Jemma said vehicle owners were happy to spend big on them because they were a "fun and creative way” to express themselves.

"A lot of people are very proud of their vehicles and it's a way for them to express themselves and their passion for their cars and to complement the look of their car,” she said.

While most people opt for letter and number combinations that will not offend, there are some motorists who like to choose plates that are not appropriate for our roads.

"We work very closely with the Department of Transport and Main Roads who provide very strict guidelines to adhere to,” Jemma said.

"We run every plate against the very strict assessment criteria to ensure they are clean and that they are appropriate for display.”

While PPQ sells the unique regos on more than 250 types of plates and designs, it's the DTMR that produces the finished plate.

Canberrans who want to show their support for marriage equality can now do so in a novel way - rainbow number plates.

Following the legalisation of same-sex marriage, the ACT government has announced it will bring into circulation number plates with a rainbow band instead of the traditional slogan.

The colourful plates will cost a one-off fee of $60 and regulatory services minster Gordon Ramsay said he expected demand for them to be high.

The fee covers the cost of production of the plate, and unlike the rainbow buses and roundabout, Mr Ramsay said there would be no extra cost to the ACT taxpayer.

ACT government to offer free marriage certificates for same-sex couples who wed when briefly legal in Canberra
Location chosen for Canberra's rainbow roundabout
"The government has been supportive all the way through of people's rights," Mr Ramsay said.

"We're the most welcoming and inclusive city and I want to make sure we continue to be able affirm that and celebrate that."

Three in four Canberrans voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in the recent postal survey, an "emphatic" result Chief Minister Andrew Barr said gave the government licence to make Canberra more "inclusive".

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Asked if the number plates could make cars a target given 26 per cent of the ACT voted against marriage equality, Mr Ramsay said he had "full confidence" Canberrans would respect the rights of others.

People can apply to have their existing 'Y' series plates remade with the rainbow design, although it will take about four weeks.

The government also announced on Friday it will waive $55 certificate fee for couples married previously under the ACT's Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013 if they marry again.

Couples who previously registered a civil union under the Civil Union Act 2012 can also have their fee waived.

There are about 80 couples eligible in a move that is expected to cost the ACT government about $4400.

ACT Opposition leader Alistair Coe criticised the government's "grandstanding and expenditure of public resources".

"All Canberrans, regardless of their sexuality, deserve a government that concentrates on health, education and all the other actual responsibilities of the ACT government," Mr Coe said.

MOTORISTS in the UK are still being targeted by new DVLA email, message and text message scams in Britain and here’s what to do if you are.

Criminals posing as the Driver Vehicle Licence Agency (DVLA) are still sending bogus messages to motorists, to attempt to maliciously acquire data or money from them.

These criminals are being exposed on Twitter now as motorists are savvily becoming wise to these messages.

DCI David Coleman, Deputy Director of Intelligence, Kent & Essex SCD tweeted a picture of a fake text he received.

The message read “We would like to notify you that you have an outstanding vehicle tax refund of GBP 220.50 from an overpayment, request refund dvlc.au1h.com.”

The DVLA has been explicit in the past about its policy regarding contacting customers.

It replied to a customers reporting another potential phishing scam saying “we're already aware of this scam and we are investigating.

“We advise drivers that we don't send texts that contain links. Please ignore it and don’t click on any link.”

On its website it reiterates how it will never contact a driver via text or email.

“We’re aware that some members of the public are receiving emails, texts and telephone calls claiming to be from DVLA.

“Links to a website mocked up to look like a DVLA online service are sometimes included in the message.

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If you are buying the plates separately then you'll need to go to a registered number plate supplier to get new number plates for your vehicle. The registered supplier will need proof of your identity, as well as proof that the registration number belongs to you. The number plate supplier will need to see at least one document from each of the lists below. This will allow the number plate supplier to confirm your name, address and entitlement to the registration number. All documents must be original, not copies.

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Record numbers of motorists are driving cars fitted with personalised numberplates amid a surge in “auto vanity”.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency sold a record 374,968 registrations last year, up 12 per cent in 12 months and almost five times the total in the mid-90s.

The trade in numberplates made more than £110 million for the Treasury in 2016-17 alone, a record annual total.

The rise coincides with an increase in the number of registrations made available by the DVLA, combined with a sharp rise in the value of rare plates over the past two decades.

In an era when we’re all supposed to be flaunting our individuality, the trend for personalised car number plates has apparently never been higher. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), which sells new and never-issued registrations, sold 374,968 last year, an increase of 12%.

Among private dealers, who sell pre-owned plates, business is just as good.

“For the past five years, [the market has] been steadily rising.” It is thought one reason is a personalised plate makes the age of the car less obvious. But he also says social media has played a huge part. “It’s, ‘Hey, everybody, look at me’,” he says.

People post pictures of their new cars on Instagram, and adding a private plate “seems to be something that people can use to boost their social media reach”.

At the entry-level end of the market, “registrations that start at £250, on average there are 800 of those sold every day.” He says one fairly common customer is the parent who buys a personalised plate for their child on passing their driving test, to go with a new car. “My typical client would be someone in their 40s or 50s, they’ve got a bit of money sitting about and always fancied a personalised number plate.”

At the extreme end, plates can fetch more than £500,000. In 2014, one classic-car dealer bought a “25 O” plate, reportedly for his Ferrari 250 GTO, for £400,000 (the final price, including fees, was £518,000) and a “250 L” for £130,000.

“The numbers that were selling for £1,000 in 1980 now sell for £150,000. What probably changed it was in the late 80s, when the government started to sell numberplates. We in the trade all thought it would devalue the numbers, but it didn’t, it just got more people interested.”

A personalised plate is “a prestigious thing. There’s a little bit of vanity about it,” says Saperia. As for those of us who believe it’s the mark of a bit of a berk, Saperia points out that the DVLA’s sale of personalised plates “bring more than £100m every year to the treasury”.

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A NUMBER plate sold to raise money for Tatton Park has fetched a world record price of £331,500 at auction.

The M1 registration mark was bought by an anonymous north west-based bidder - for his six-year-old son's birthday.

Officials at auctioneers Bonhams and Tatton Park were stunned by the final selling price for the unique plate, which quickly reached and overtook the previous world record.

And they were even more amazed to learn that the owner is a boy who cannot legally drive for another 11 years.

The youngster is the son of a wealthy Cheshire businessman who refused to reveal himself and made his bids by phone.

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