Number Plates News

Two Plates Cause a Devil of a Fuss

16 August 2010

A driver in the Scottish Isle of Skye was cleared of a dangerous driving charge following complaints from cyclists who took exception to her 'Satanic' number plate, S666 SKY.

65-year-old Sally Phelps, a community councillor, says she has no plans to get rid of her controversial registration, despite the incident where two women cyclist were upset by "the Devil's car" passing them.

"I am not scrapping my unique registration plate, despite its apparent controversy," she insisted. "I had no idea my car number had connections with the devil."

"When my husband Roy bought the number several years ago it was for the 'SKY' part. The '666' bit came with it."

One of the complainants, 49-year-old Fiona MacDonald, claims that she "felt the heat of the car" when it passed her with its "number of the beast" registration plate.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, the authorities have rejected a request for the issue of the number plate 'LUCIFER'. The applicant, 40-year-old Annsofie Tedfors, claims that she, "just wanted to pick a memorable name, adding that she had a both a cat and a business called 'Lucifer'

Out of a population of 9.5 million, some 15,000 Swedish drivers have personalised plates. Rather like the American system, it seems that almost any word can be chosen, provided that the licensing authority does not find it "offensive or disturbing". This obviously presents a tireless task of vetting every single application - Perhaps our licensing agency should think themselves lucky that they have only to deal with those contentious plates which come up by chance.