BOSS Number Plates DVLA Auction

A BUSINESSMAN’S written offer of £250,000 cash to buy the historic CB1 number plate from the mayor of Blackburn with Darwen’s official car has been rejected - for now.

Multi-millionaire Charlie Barton made an informal offer to the borough to purchase the registration in March last year.

Despite an initially lukewarm reaction, earlier this month he wrote to chief executive Harry Catherall with an official bid for the rare plate.

The reply said it was not for sale but the position could be reconsidered in future.

Mr Barton, 30, said he was ‘disappointed’ but had not given up hope of getting the registration for his family at some point.

The businessman’s letter said: “I believe you are the appropriate person to approach in regard to the potential sale of the number plate CB1.

“You might be aware that we approached Michael Lee last year and met him in March 2016.

“At the meeting, we discussed whether Blackburn with Darwen Council would be interested in disposing of this asset, in order to be able to realise funds for vital road repairs, which were attracting negative publicity.

“As you can see from the attached proposal we suggested that an alternative number plate, with an obvious relevance to Blackburn, could serve as a replacement.

“I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that the offer we made at that time is still open.

“We believe that the number plate has significant value and are hoping that the timing might be right to re consider our offer.”

Mr Barton’s offer was £250,000 cash or arranging the filling of some of the ‘4,000 potholes in Blackburn, Lancashire’ immortalised in the Beatles song ‘ Day in the Life’ to the same value.

Mr Catherall replied: “As the number plate is a significant part of the borough’s heritage we are not minded to sell.

“If, however, in the future we re-consider our position, there will need to be a formal process to go through and we will make sure you are contacted to be invited to take part in this process.”

Mr Barton said: “Naturally I’m disappointed by the outcome, but I completely respect Blackburn with Darwen Council’s stance on this matter.

“I am, however, reassured that the matter potentially remains under consideration.”

Mr Barton said if he bought the plate, originally on a bin lorry in 1904, it could end up on Rolls-Royce.

His 69-year-old father, also called Charlie, already owns CB9 but they both believe CB1 would be better.

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".