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Main article: Vehicle registration plate

British number plates (1982 – 2001 system), as observed in 2004

British car number plates have existed in the United Kingdom since 1904. All motor-powered road vehicles, including cars but excepting the official cars of the reigning monarch, are required by law to display them.

The Motor Car Act 1903, which came into force on 1 January 1904, required all vehicles to be entered onto the Government's vehicle register, and to carry index plates. The Act was passed in order that vehicles could be easily traced in the event of an accident or contravention of the law. Vehicle registration index plates in the UK are rectangular or square in shape, with the exact permitted dimensions of the plate and its lettering set down in law.

Within the UK itself there are currently two numbering and registration systems: one for Great Britain, which is administered by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), and one for Northern Ireland, administered by the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA), however both have equal status. Other schemes relating to the UK are also listed below.

Contents 1 Colour and dimensions (United Kingdom) 2 Great Britain 2.1 Current system 2.1.1 Characters 2.1.2 European flag 2.1.3 Typography 2.1.4 Special plates 2.1.5 Older plates 2.2 History 2.2.1 Before 1932 2.2.2 1932 to 1963 2.2.3 1960s to 1982 2.2.4 1983 to 2001 2.2.5 Year identifiers 2.2.5.1 Suffix series 1963-82 (letters) 2.2.5.2 Prefix series 1983-2001 (letters) 2.2.5.3 New series post-2001 (numbers) 2.2.6 Local area codes 3 Northern Ireland 3.1 Characters 3.2 Special plates 3.3 European plates and the GB controversy 3.4 County codes in alphabetical order 3.5 Series per county 4 Crown Dependencies 4.1 Jersey 4.1.1 Standard plates 4.1.2 Special plates 4.2 Guernsey 4.2.1 Standard plates 4.2.2 Special plates 4.3 Alderney 4.4 Sark 4.5 Isle of Man 5 Other formats 5.1 Overseas Territories 5.2 British Forces plates 5.3 Trade Plates 5.4 Diplomatic plates 5.5 "Personal" index plates 5.6 State vehicles used by the reigning monarch 6 Theft of number plates 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Current plates have black characters on reflective white reflective material (for the front plate) or on reflective yellow reflective material (for the rear plate). These colours are only used in Britain and in France, where yellow will be abolished starting 2009^{[citation needed]}. Luxembourg and the Netherlands use yellow as a background colour for both the front and rear plate, whilst the other 21 EU member states use black and white in compliance with the EU standards.

Older British plates had white, grey or silver characters on a black background. This style of plate was phased out in 1972, and is now legal to be carried only on vehicles built prior to 1 January 1973.

Front number plates are 520 mm x 111 mm (20.5" x 4 ³/₈") in size. Rear plates may be 520 mm x 111 mm (Standard), 285 mm x 203 mm (Square, as at July 2007) 533 mm x 152 mm (large).,^{[citation needed]}

Motorcycles formerly had a double-sided number plate on top of the front mudguard, curved to follow the contour of the wheel and visible from the sides. The requirement for the front number plate was dropped in 1975 because of the severe danger these presented to pedestrians in the event of a collision.

The current system for Great Britain was introduced in 2001. Each registration index consists of seven characters^[1]. From left to right the characters consist of :

Although many believe this scheme to be peculiarly complex, it has three particular advantages:

British number plates conform for the most part to the 1998 European standard design ^[2], with black lettering on a white or yellow background. The standard design also incorporates a blue strip on the left side of the plate with the European flag and the country identification code of the member state - this aspect of the design is not compulsory in the UK, and many drivers choose not to display the European flag.

The British version of the EU standard number plate; this European plate is optional for UK drivers.	A British number plate without the EU symbol; UK drivers must display a separate GB sticker if driving abroad with these plates.

The option of the EU stars and the country identifier letters ´GB´ is claimed to be a registered design - number 2053070 - registered at the UK Patent Office in 1995 by David and Nansi Mottram [1]. However, the blue strip with European flag and country identifier was introduced by Ireland in 1991, before the Mottrams registered their version.

In response to devolution of the nations of the United Kingdom, some motorists in Scotland and Wales choose to display EU-style plates with their national flag and the codes SCO and CYM respectively. Although initially prohibited, they are permitted by the UK government as an expression of national pride. Some motorists in England have started to display ENG codes in response to this fashion.^[3]. These unofficial emblems are not officially recognised, and UK motorists who drive their car abroad displaying these plates must also affix a "GB" country identifier to their vehicle.

CYM - Welsh version

ENG - English version

SCO - Scottish version

No identifier or EU symbol - the EU flag is not compulsory

When introduced, the new plates included a subtly re-drawn version of Charles Wright's original 1935 font, that has been narrowed (condensed) from 57 mm to 50 mm to allow space for the extra letter and the optional blue 'GB' Euro surround. The typeface is similar in many ways to, but perhaps less drastic than Germany's FE-Schrift number-plate font (2001). It accentuates the differences in the form of similar characters like '8' and 'B' or 'D' and '0' with block serifs to improve the legibility of a plate from a distance. This is especially useful for the Automatic Number Plate Recognition software of speed cameras and CCTV. This accentuation also discourages the tampering that is sometimes practised with the use of black insulating tape or paint to change letterforms (P to R, 9 to 8 for example), or with the inclusion of carefully positioned black 'fixing screw' dots that alter the appearance of letters on some vanity plates.

Registrations having a combination of characters that are particularly appealing (resembling a name, for example) are auctioned each year.

In 2007 the DVLA exceptionally issued 'TN07' prefixed registrations for some Edinburgh registered vehicles, instead of the expected 'SN07'. This was stated to be because of potential offence caused by interpreting 'SN07' as 'SNOT'. This is the first known use of the 'T' code as the first letter, as it was not allocated to a region in the 2001 system. Yet, TF07 registrations have been showing up around Scotland, most commonly in Glasgow. This has arisen some confusion as to why TF07 registrations are being used. Even more recently, it has been observed that TP07 registration number plates are being issued as well.

Vehicles registered under previous numbering systems continue to retain their original registration plates. Subject to certain conditions, registration plates can be transferred between vehicles by the vehicle owner; some of these transfers involve tens of thousands of British Pounds (GBP) changing hands, due to the desirability of a specific letter/number combination.

The first series of number plates were issued in 1903 and ran until 1932, using the series A1–YY9999. 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, etc. In England and Wales the letter codes were initially allocated in order of population size (by the 1901 census), whilst Scotland and Ireland had special 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.

By 1932, the available numbers within this scheme were running out, and an extended scheme was introduced. This scheme consisted of three letters and three numbers, taken from the series AAA1 to YYY999. Note that certain letters — I, Q and Z — were never used, as they were considered too easy to mistake for other letters or numbers, or were reserved for special use, such as the use of I and Z for Irish registrations and Q for temporary imports. (After independence, the Irish Republic continued to use this scheme until 1986, and Northern Ireland still uses it.)

The three-letter scheme preserved the area letter codes as the second pair of letters in the set of three, and the single letter area codes were deleted (since prefixing a single letter code would create a duplicate of a two-letter code). In some areas, the available numbers with this scheme started to run out in the 1950s, and in those areas, a reversed sequence was introduced, i.e. 1AAA–999YYY. The ever-increasing popularity of the car can be gauged by noting that these sequences ran out within ten years, and by the beginning of the 1960s, a further change was made in very popular areas, introducing 4-number sequences with the one and two letter area codes, but in the reverse direction to the early scheme (i.e. 1A –9999YY).

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 AAA1A–YYY999A for the first year, then AAA1B–YYY999B 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 car buyers to know the age of the vehicle immediately. At first the year letter changed on January 1 every year, but car retailers started to notice that car buyers would tend to wait towards the end of the 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 to get the month of registration changed from January to August. This was done in 1967, a year that had two letter changes: "E" came in January, and "F" came in August. The final August change was in 1998 (the S-reg prefix).

By 1982, the year suffixes had reached Y and so from 1983 onwards the sequence was reversed again, so that the year letter — starting again at "A" — preceded the numbers then the letters of the registration. The available range was then A1AAA–Y999YYY. Towards the mid-1990s there was some discussion about introducing a unified scheme for Europe, which would also incorporate the country code of origin of the vehicle, but after much debate such a scheme was not adopted due to lack of countries willing to participate. The changes in 1983 also brought the letter Q into use - although on a very small and limited scale. It was used on vehicles of indeterminate age, such as those assembled from kits, substantial rebuilds, or imported vehicles where the documentation is insufficient to determine the age. It was seen as an aid to consumer protection.

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. Rather than stick with a variation of the ad-hoc numbering that had existed for nearly a century, it was decided to research a system that would be easier for crash or car crime witnesses to remember and clearer to read, yet still fit within a normal standard plate size.

Letter Dates of issue A January 1963 – December 1963 B January 1964 – December 1964 C January 1965 – December 1965 D January 1966 – December 1966 E January 1967 – July 1967 F August 1967 – July 1968 G August 1968 – July 1969 H August 1969 – July 1970 J August 1970 – July 1971 K August 1971 – July 1972 L August 1972 – July 1973 M August 1973 – July 1974 N August 1974 – July 1975 P August 1975 – July 1976 R August 1976 – July 1977 S August 1977 – July 1978 T August 1978 – July 1979 V August 1979 – July 1980 W August 1980 – July 1981 X August 1981 – July 1982 Y August 1982 – July 1983

Letter Dates of issue A August 1983 – July 1984 B August 1984 – July 1985 C August 1985 – July 1986 D August 1986 – July 1987 E August 1987 – July 1988 F August 1988 – July 1989 G August 1989 – July 1990 H August 1990 – July 1991 J August 1991 – July 1992 K August 1992 – July 1993 L August 1993 – July 1994 M August 1994 – July 1995 N August 1995 – July 1996 P August 1996 – July 1997 R August 1997 – July 1998 S August 1998 – February 1999 T March 1999 – August 1999 V September 1999 – February 2000 W March 2000 – August 2000 X September 2000 – February 2001 Y March 2001 – August 2001

Year March September 2001 — 51 2002 02 52 2003 03 53 2004 04 54 2005 05 55 2006 06 56 2007 07 57 2008 08 58 2009 09 59 2010 10 60 2011 11 61 2012 12 62 2013 13 63 2014 14 64 2015 15 65 2016 16 66 2017 17 67 2018 18 68 2019 19 69 2020 20 70 2021 21 71 2022 22 72 2023 23 73 2024 24 74 2025 25 75 2026 26 76 2027 27 77 2028 28 78 2029 29 79 2030 30 80 2031 31 81 2032 32 82 2033 33 83 2034 34 84 2035 35 85 2036 36 86 2037 37 87 2038 38 88 2039 39 89 2040 40 90 2041 41 91 2042 42 92 2043 43 93 2044 44 94 2045 45 95 2046 46 96 2047 47 97 2048 48 98 2049 49 99

In Northern Ireland current registrations plates take the form "ABC 1000", where "BC" represents the county or city and "A" denotes the position in the series. The numbering begins at 1000 and ends at 9999. After 9999, the next letter in alphabetical order is used at position "A" and the numbering series begins with 1000 once again. For example, in 2005 County Antrim is using the series "KZ", having already completed "IA" and "DZ". After "KZ" is exhausted, it will use "RZ". The full list of county codes appears below.

The county letters without the series position identifier were used previously on their own, in the same order that they are now being used. After all these registrations had been issued, the extra letter was added to increase capacity. Numbers below 1000 are now not issued to the public in the normal way but instead held back by DVLNI and supplied at a premium as vanity plates.

This system was also used in the Republic of Ireland until 1987 as part of an original British all-Ireland system. It was similar to an older system used in Great Britain, but the use of the letters I and Z is unique to Ireland. In this system, two-letter county codes existed for all counties or administrative areas in Ireland, but are now used only in Northern Ireland. (See also: Irish Vehicle Registration Plates)

The DVA are considering adopting the system used in the rest of the UK^{[citation needed]}, using I as the first letter (no confusion could be made with 1 as it would be followed by another letter).

Northern Ireland licence plates are used often in Great Britain as vanity plates to cheaply hide the age of an older vehicle.

The County Fermanagh registrations KIL, CIG and NIG were deemed inappropriate and will never be issued.

The European Union standard for number plates causes some degree of resentment in Northern Ireland as the internationally recognised number-plate code for all of the United Kingdom is 'GB' for Great Britain. As Northern Ireland is not geographically part of Great Britain, and is part of the island of Ireland, "GB" can appear to exclude Northern Ireland.

There are unofficial Northern Ireland registration plates which use the EU-style blue strip on the left hand side with the European flag but without any country code. Other versions use the unofficial country codes "NI" or "NIrl". Within the Nationalist community, some people choose to display an 'IRL' version, e.g. |IRL| ACZ 0000|, a hybrid of the Northern Irish number plate format but with the country identification code of the Republic of Ireland. This is incorrect in terms of the European numbering system; although the DVLA permits Northern Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English variants, there is no provision for the Irish Republic country code on UK number plates.

Proposals were made to change the "GB" code to "UK", but this came to nothing^{[citation needed]}. Confusingly, the British driving licence, common to both Great Britain and Northern Ireland, features the country identifier "UK" inside the European stars, not "GB"^[4].

AZ — Belfast BZ — Down CZ — Belfast DZ — Antrim EZ — Belfast FZ — Belfast GZ — Belfast HZ — Tyrone IA — Antrim IB — Armagh IG — Fermanagh IJ — Down

IL — Fermanagh IW — Londonderry JI — Tyrone JZ — Down KZ — Antrim LZ — Armagh MZ — Belfast NZ — Londonderry OI — Belfast OZ — Belfast PZ — Belfast

RZ — Antrim SZ — Down TZ — Belfast UI — Derry City UZ — Belfast VZ — Tyrone WZ — Belfast XI — Belfast XZ — Armagh YZ — Londonderry QNI — Re-registration within Northern Ireland

Antrim: DZ IA KZ RZ

Armagh: IB LZ XZ

Belfast: AZ CZ EZ FZ GZ MZ OI OZ PZ TZ UZ WZ XI

Derry City: UI

Down: BZ IJ JZ SZ

Fermanagh: IG IL

Londonderry: YZ IW NZ

Tyrone: HZ JI VZ

The Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are outside the United Kingdom, and have number plates that differ from those used in the UK.

Jersey number plates consist of the letter 'J' followed by one to six digits; plates now incorporate the coat of arms of Jersey in a white strip on the left, along with the country identifier 'GBJ' (Great Britain - Jersey). This design is similar to the EU standard plate, but does not incorporate the European flag, as Jersey is outside the European Union.

All hire cars registered on Jersey must display a white letter 'H' on a red background on the registration plate. Low digit value number plates are considered more desirable — number plates 'J1' and 'J2' are carried by government official vehicles.

A standard Jersey plate

J67543

A hire Jersey plate

H

J12345

Vanity plates are also auctioned, having the format 'JSY' followed by one to three digits.

Guernsey plates consist of up to five digits, sometimes in white on a black background, and sometimes with a circle containing the letters 'GBG', the island's international vehicle registration. Plates with lower numbers are of a high value. The plates 1 to 9 are the most valuable.

Vehicles used by the Guernsey Fire Service do not carry registration plates.

A Guernsey plate

12345

Guernsey hire cars sport a black 'H' on a yellow background on a separate plate, much like the 'L plate' required by learners. Locals consider this to stand for "Horror", as foreign drivers often lack understanding of road features such as 'filter in turn' sections common to Guernsey roads.

In Alderney, a dependency of Guernsey, separate registrations are issued always with the prefix 'AY' followed by a space and then digits.

An Alderney plate

AY 123

Sark bans cars on its roads, so no number plates exist.

When vehicle registration began in the Isle of Man in 1906, registration plates started with the letters 'MN' followed by up to four digits. In 1935, the prefix 'MAN' came into use, followed by up to three digits, and the following year a further scheme was introduced allowing three letters (BMN through YMN) to be used in addition to up to three digits. In 1959, the scheme changed to allow the digits to precede the letters. Currently a trailing letter is added to new registrations, as illustrated below.

There is no indicator of vehicle age in the Manx registration plate as each can be transferred from vehicle to vehicle.

Plates now incorporate the Manx flag, bearing the triskelion symbol, and the country identification code GBM (Great Britain-Man). Manx numberplates are similar to numberplates of cars registered in the Republic of Ireland this is because the typeface used on Manx numberplates is the same as that used on Irish Vehicle Registration Plates. The 'Isle of Man' identifier above the registration number is in the same Celtic font as the Gaelic-language county identifier displayed in the same area on Irish plates.

A Manx plate (without the words Isle of Man at the top)

GBM

DMN-123-A

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

Until 2002 Gibraltar number plates consisted of the letter 'G' and five digits, but this changed to 'G' followed by four digits and a letter. The European flag is also now featured, along with the international vehicle registration GBZ. Military vehicles have the letters 'RN'.

In the Falklands, the format is 'F' followed by four digits and a letter.

Bermuda number plates issued to general passenger cars are five black digits on a plain white background, similarly-sized to UK plates. Vanity plates, however, have recently become available that allow motorists to choose any seven-letter phrase, overlaid on a map of the island with "Bermuda" printed across the top, on a plate of identical dimensions to plates from the United States.

Anguilla has an 'A' followed by 4 digits, with a 'G' on the end for a government vehicle, a 'H' for a hire vehicle/taxi and an 'R' for a rental vehicle.

A 1234

In the British Virgin Islands Private Vehicles have 'PV' followed by four digits. Commercial vehicles have 'CM' followed by four digits.

PV 1234

Cayman Islands simply have 6 numbers on them, separated into groups of 3.

123 456

Saint Helena islands just have 3 digits on them, with government vehicles having a prefix of 'SHG.'

123

British forces number plates are white on black, in either the older two numbers, two letters, two numbers format, or the more recent two letters, two numbers, two letters format, with the lettering arranged in three rows. In West Germany, private cars owned by members of HM Forces and their families also used plates with the same format, distinct from those used in the UK. This was discontinued in 1988 for security reasons, as it made them vulnerable to IRA attacks. Private cars driven by British military personnel are now issued with either standard UK number plates (if right hand drive) or German ones (if left hand drive).

Trade Plates are used by the motor trade to move untaxed vehicles on the public highway. Until 1970 two types of Trade Plates were used; General Trade Plates had white letters and numbers on a red background and could be used for all such purposes. Limited Trade Plates used red numbers and letters on a white background and were restricted in their use (e.g. a vehicle being driven under Limited Trade Plates was not allowed to carry passengers). From 1970 only one type of trade plate was used, which perpetuated the red on white format.

Since 1979 cars operated by foreign embassies, consular staff, and various international organisations have been given plates with a distinguishing format of three numbers, one letter, three numbers. The letter is D for diplomats or X for accredited non-diplomatic staff. The first group of three numbers identifies the country or organisation to whom the plate has been issued, the second group of three numbers is a serial number, starting at 101 for diplomats (although some embassies were erroneously issued 100), 400 for non-diplomatic staff of international organisations, and 700 for consular staff. Thus, for example, 101 D 101 identifies the first plate allocated to the Afghanistan embassy, 900 X 400 is the first plate allocated to the Commonwealth Secretariat. See List of country codes on British diplomatic car number plates.

It is still legal to use any of the above schemes for so-called vanity plates –. Any registration with 2-3 consecutive valid letters and a number 1-999 (and possibly another letter) is allowed. As many cars registered before 1963 have been destroyed, these "dateless" plates are usually highly sought-after and valuable, since they can be used to hide the age of an older vehicle. However, some consider it a great pity that many classic cars now lose their original plates due to the owners cashing in on the high premiums paid for highly desirable registrations. The DVLA Cherished Mark Transfer scheme allows owners to display a registration index more appropriate to a speciality or collector vehicle and there are also a large number of private dealers who not only act as agents for DVLA issues, but hold their own private stock of dateless registrations and other cherished numbers. The DVLA however can only offer for sale registrations that have never previously been issued. There are still thousands of combinations available though and prices start at £250. One may not use a registration index to make one's vehicle appear younger or newer than it actually is. Whilst the DVLA can not re-issue registrations, there are plenty of interesting combinations available on the second hand market. As popularity grows, the prices reached for the most expensive plates are always increasing. "M 1" sold at auction in Goodwood on 7 June 2006 for £330,000. This is currently the world record price achieved for a personal plate. The previous record was £285,000 for "VIP 1": rumoured to have been bought by Roman Abramovich, it was originally an Irish number, formerly on a car once used by Pope John Paul II when visiting Dublin.^[5][6].

Uniquely, the Rolls-Royce, Bentley and other motor cars used by the reigning monarch on official business do not carry registration plates. The official car of the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland also does not carry plates (but only for the duration of the week-long General Assembly). The monarch's private vehicles, and cars driven by other members of the royal family, all carry index plates.

To combat "cloning", where criminals have number plates made up for a vehicle of identical type and colour and use them on their own vehicle to commit crime without being traceable (yet appearing legitimate to a cursory police computer check), the UK Government recently introduced laws requiring the production of personal identification and vehicle registration documents when buying replacement plates from a retailer.

Although "show plates" are widely available on mail-order with no such checks (making the law wholly ineffective), number plate theft has become a new activity for criminals, who presumably wish to leave no record of their having purchased "show plates". Cloned vehicles are frequently used to avoid speeding, parking and congestion charging fines.

Tamper-resistant plates, which cannot be removed from a vehicle without destroying them, have been demonstrated in a bid to beat the problem. Ironically the DVLA effectively banned the formerly legal adhesive plates (popular for some sports cars such as the Mazda MX-5 and Alfa Romeo Spider) in 2001, which are tamper-proof by design.

• Automatic number plate recognition
• British car number plate identifiers
• Mass surveillance
• UK topics
• Vehicle Excise Duty
• Vehicle registration plate

• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. Registration Marks - Current System, English Version. Archived from the original on 2005-03-19. Retrieved on 2006-08-11.

• Printable PDFs of DVLA number plate specifications
• Vehicle Registration in the Isle of Man

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1 Entirely in Southwest Asia; included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia. 3 Mostly in Asia. 4 Entirely in the African Plate, included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 5 Only recognised by Turkey.