Number plates auction information.

<body> <h1 align="center"><b><font face="Arial" size="7" color="#000080">NUMBER PLATES - REGISTRATIONS</font></b></h1> <p align="center"><b>Number plates</b><font color="#000000"> will change every 6 months instead of 12, and will occur in March and September. This would mean that T to Y prefix would last only 6 months each, and a new system would be required in September 2001, assuming the same letters are used as were first time round.</font></p> <p><font size="5"><strong>T</strong></font>he Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the in Swansea, was established in 1973 to computerise the 15,000,000 driver and 13,000,000 vehicle records that were hitherto held on paper at 183 separate Local Authorities.</p> <p align="center"><font color="#000000">CAR PLATES ; Just as the above helps us to tell the age of a vehicle, most number plates will of course also tell us the area where the vehicle was issued with that number. In 1903 all the existing Counties, County Boroughs (and Scottish Burghs of over 50,000 population) were instructed to register all vehicles in their area, and were issued with a one or two letter code, those in England and Wales in order of size (from A for London to Y for Somerset, and AA for Hampshire to FP for Rutland). Scotland had mainly S combinations, and personalised number plates, Ireland (then including the south) had Is and Zs; both were allocated alphabetically, first counties then towns. As for each allocated code the digits reached 9999, new codes were allocated as required, likewise to new County Boroughs and <b>number plates </b>Burghs as they were created. In 1963 XA to XY were taken away from London, and subsequently reallocated. Many of the surviving registrations from this time and earlier have now been transferred onto newer vehicles as so-called "cherished numbers".<br /> <br /> With local government reorganisation in the seventies all these issuing authorities disappeared, and the issue of registrations was transferred to the auction bidding service computer at Swansea. The <b>number plates </b>actual business of issuing new registrations was now done by 81 regional offices, currently called personalised number plates, Vehicle Registration Offices (VRO). The 2 letter combinations (marks) were allocated to the VROs, largely based on the old authorities (above) in their area. Some VROs have since been closed, and their marks often continued to be issued by neighbouring VROs.</font> </p> <p align="center"><font color="#000000">Tax discs are also a useful source of information. As well as usually confirming the registration (in cases of plate errors), a first tax disc (as distinct from the subsequent ones issued by a post office) when issued by a VRO can tell us which one issued it, from a computer-printed code in the range 301-399. A new move in the past few years has been Automated Registration and First Licensing (AFRL). Increasingly new cars are car plates registered by the dealer using a computer link with auction bidding service (via the manufacturer), so the VRO is not involved, although the letters used will still indicate the area of origin. AFRL registrations can be identified from the original tax disc, which carries a stamp with the word "dealer" and a 4 digit code, which identifies the dealer.<br /> <br /> Some year prefix registrations are not generally covered by RNL, because they don't follow rules such as the above. This applies to most of them with digits between 1 and 20, and for H prefix onwards any whose digits are multiples of 10, 100 or 111; also for H and R prefixes, certain digits which auction bidding service identify <b>number plates </b>as car plates matching car model numbers of the time e.g. 106, 325, and 911. These all come under auction bidding service's Custom or Select schemes, where the public can obtain by phone a <b>number plates </b> registration of their choice, provided it is not already taken. Because the letters and numbers are purely the owner's choice, there is no pattern, so nothing for RNL to track. We do however list the (usually) previously unissued cherishable registrations which are sold at auction bidding service's auctions.<br /> <br /> Other types of vehicle registrations covered by RNL are listed below :<br /> <br /> <b>Diplomatic.</b> Apart from some specials, generally with the digit "1" and often with no year letter, most UK diplomatic issues comprise three digits identifying the foreign embassy, mission or body, then D (for accredited diplomats) or X (for other personnel), followed by a serial of three digits. RNL tracks the highest digits known for each initial three digit code. A few year letter marks with trio RXS were once used.<br /> <br /> <b>Exports to EU countries.</b> Special issues began with K prefix, are identified by ending in XP, confined to trios AXP to MXP which show the month of issue : each calendar year A for car plates January through to M for December. Only issued by a handful of VROs, and it appears each one is allocated a block of digits each month. The VRO can be determined from the tax disc or more usually the make of vehicle.<br /> </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="4"><b><font color="#000000">from Brian Heatons book</font></b></font></p> <div align="left"> <font face="Arial">All registration marks including marks purchased through sales scheme must be displayed in accordance with The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 (obtainable from Her Majesty's Stationery Office).</font><p><font face="Arial">Rules for the display of number plates are set out in law, briefly these are: -</font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Arial">A number plate must be displayed at the front and rear of motor vehicles (with some exceptions). </font></li> <li><font face="Arial">number plates must be easy to read and meet the British Standard. </font></li> <li><font face="Arial">Lettering should be black on a white plate at the front and a yellow at the rear. </font></li> <li><font face="Arial">The background surface should be reflex-reflecting but the characters must not. </font></li> <li><font face="Arial">There are separate requirements for traditional number plates displayed on vehicles constructed before 1 January 1973. </font> </li> <li><font face="Arial">Lettering and spacing must be of a set size. They must conform to one of the groups shown at:- number plates fitted after 1 September</font></li> <li><font face="Arial"> 2001 or number plates fitted before 1 September 2001. </font></li> </ul> </div> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><b>If you are seeing this page, your browser does not support frames - we recommend you try this <a target="_blank" href="http://www.carreg.co.uk/">number plates website</a></b></font></p> <p align="center"><b><u><font size="7" color="#000000">NUMBER PLATES</font></u></b></p> <p align="center"> </p> </body>