Reg Plates That Will Not Be Issued By The DVLA

The September arrival of the ‘66’ number plate brought the potential for hundreds of familiar words to appear in the thousands of possible combinations of letters and numbers. With ‘66’ most closely resembling ‘GG’, many words were thrown out by the latest update and the DVLA has had to ban any that could cause offence before they head onto the street.

A full list hasn’t been published, but the DVLA has said ‘BU66 ERS’, ‘DO66 ERS’, and ‘OR66 ASM’ have been added to the list of banned plates. In line with the bi-annual plate change, DVLA censors convene twice a year to cast judgment on which potential new plates are too incendiary to grace a new car.

Any plate that’s explicit or could cause political, racial or religious upset are banned, with a spokeswoman commenting: “There’s nothing scientific about it, it’s all done by taste, and if some slip through and we get a complaint, we take the feedback on board.”

The entire list of redacted number plates stretches to over 10 pages long – but has been withheld by the DVLA. Once banned, number plates always stay off limits, so don’t expect to see ‘VA61 ANA’ or ‘CR16 PLE’ the next time you head down the motorway. If an offensive number plate slips past the censors, the DVLA even has the power to force the recipient to hand it back.

Number plates don’t have to be rude to be banned; anything potentially racist, offensive to a religion or crime-related could be outlawed. ‘JE55 US’, ‘15 LAM’, ‘OS55 AMA’ and ‘AD13 CTS’ fall into these categories, along with any plate which could have political connotations like ‘EU16 OUT’, ‘EU16 GON’ and anything containing ‘BNP’.