please empty your brain below
My favourite DG personalised number plate was P006 0NE on a plumber's van. At least I think so, I couldn't find it when I looked later.

Half a physicist | 13.02.24 - 7:42 a.m. | #

How long did DG take?

Stephen | 13.02.24 - 7:53 a.m. | #

One special circumstance might be Japanese cars imported as used cars, getting UK registration many years after they were made. A look at Goodmayes Motors website shows lots of instances of LU and LW.

Malcolm of Kent | 13.02.24 - 8:03 a.m. | #

Now that you have almost finished, you could make a start collecting Diplomatic and International Organisation registration plates.

Mike | 13.02.24 - 8:26 a.m. | #

PO06 ONE exists, it's a taxed and MOT'ed white ford (presumably a Transit)
Government vehicle check website
You can check for the existence of any current registration if you have the patience to iterate through the years and random characters.

fred | 13.02.24 - 8:38 a.m. | #

I've twice seen locally a quite ordinary car carrying US04. All the DVLA site says about it is "enter a valid registration."

Ian | 13.02.24 - 8:39 a.m. | #

My late father could probably have given you chapter and verse on the subject, as he went much further than you on this subject; not simply spotting the number plates but physically collecting them (with the permission of the owner, of course); walls and ceilings of garages and sheds were covered with them ( I can supply photos if you're interested). He wasn't alone either; there's an international society dedicated to the subject and their international conventions were one of the highlights of his later years.

Ian | 13.02.24 - 8:44 a.m. | #

I'm intrigued, did you see a HW off of the Isle of Wight?

Michael Churchill | 13.02.24 - 8:45 a.m. | #

No doubt someone will correct me but I thought that a specialA series was issued to cars belonging to American servicemen at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath.

Freddie | 13.02.24 - 9:00 a.m. | #

HW seems to be fairly common on the mainland. When the present system was introduced in 2001 the MP for the Isle of Wight requested that the island could retain its old mark Of DL. The civil servants won but conceeded HW.

alanjs | 13.02.24 - 9:05 a.m. | #

IIRC your photo of 'four rare numberplate pairs" shows only one legal plate RB11 CON, all the others are wrongly spaced. As such they might cause the owners to either fail an MOT Test or give the police a reason to pull them over 🤔

Retired MOT Tester | 13.02.24 - 9:06 a.m. | #

T is also used as a reserve in Scotland to avoid unsuitable combinations like SN07

Jaco | 13.02.24 - 9:12 a.m. | #

Lovely blog post, thanks!

One bit I didn't understand: which two-letter prefix might be popular with unmarried women?

Louise | 13.02.24 - 9:18 a.m. | #

If you are looking to bag VB then a visit to Croydon when the Mayor is performing some ceremony may do the trick. In the distant past Croydon was alotted VB as a registration number and the mayoral car has always been VB 1.

On the other hand waiting around to see a glimpse of Jason Perry with chain is about the most soul destroying thing I can think of doing so scratch that.

Keith the Kraut | 13.02.24 - 9:27 a.m. | #

Louise: MS.

whapcaplet | 13.02.24 - 9:58 a.m. | #

whapcaplet: Ms is a title used for a woman and marital status is not defined for this title; it is not the title used for an unmarried woman. Hence, like Louise, I don't understand which of the pairs might be popular with unmarried women.

Regards

zin92 | 13.02.24 - 11:22 a.m. | #

When the present registration system began in 2001 the remaining local offices were allocated the marks still in use today. There were two sequencies, one for issue over the counter by the offuce and one for issues on-line by the DVLC at Swansea. The former's allocation was much smaller and only had one or two marks and the DVLC the rest. This came to an end in 2013 (I think) whwn the LOs closed. Thier marks are still issued but I have no idea where in the sequences they were placed.

Prior to this the Luton office, which issued KA-KL had closed and only KE had survived but I have no idea who issues it now.

The allocated marks were issued in an order which has endured to this day. The order is not alphabetical and seems to be random. How far through the sequence any area gets in a six month period depends, for example on car sales and any marks excluded by the puritans in Swansea.

I copied a list of the sequences in about 2012 and I hope it still holds good, e.g. Ipswich has AY (by the LO), AV and AX by the DVLC and then AR and AT only on a few occasions. Aberdeen issued SV and SW as regulars and SU in only 2006.

Of the marks mentioned on your list of notes none are regular issues so I suspect you are down to the specials.

So where next - the three letter serials?

Alan JS | 13.02.24 - 1:02 p.m. | #

This afternoon there were seven HW reg cars in my street, with two HT and one each of HJ and HY. In addition, there were one each of A, P, R and S, two of C, three of K and four of Y. Plus one old format reg ending in MR.

cau1khead | 13.02.24 - 3:12 p.m. | #

LY. It would appear that possibly a lot of these went to motorcycle dealers, as I have seen a fair few on bikes in my bit of SE London.

When I bought a new motorcycle in 2019 the dealer gave me a list (numbers he had been allocated by DVLC) of about 30 numbers I could chose from - LY 19 V-- and that's when he said they had had a lot of LY's over the years. But how true that is. . . maybe just coincidental.

Dave | 13.02.24 - 3:58 p.m. | #

Stephen: While I was looking for Ls on a 15-minute walk along Bow Road yesterday, at our host's suggestion, I also saw three DGs. So probably not long.

Alex F | 13.02.24 - 7:01 p.m. | #

The plates are commonly called number plates even though the majority of characters are letters.

Steven Saunders | 13.02.24 - 10:57 p.m. | #











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