Number Plates News

Nepalese to Introduce Novel Number Plate Scheme

17 May 2010

The government of Nepal in South Asia has given the go-ahead for a revolutionary driving licence and number plate system. In the absence of accurate record-keeping, the Khathmandu officials are currently unable to say exactly how many vehicles are currently on the country's roads, although a conservative estimate would put the figure at around 970,000.

Director of Department of Transport Management, Anil Gurung, is confident that, "The new system will be implemented from the next fiscal year, and goes on to say that, "The purpose of the new system is to prevent the duplication of licences and registrations."

However, the plans also include some innovative ideas which might be watched with interest by other registration authorities world-wide.

For a start, the new driving licence takes the form of an electronic 'smart card', replacing the current paper document. The card will hold full details of the licensee together with details of all vehicles registered to the licence-holder. A far more rational solution than the UK 'bodge' of a paper licence allied to an optional card.

But more interesting are the new number plates. They will have embossed characters but, more significantly, they will include the owner's name, the vehicle model, chassis number and taxation status, in both electronic (via a data chip) and written form.

The fairly obvious idea of including a brief description of the vehicle to which the plate is assigned would clearly form a deterrent to many simple plate thefts or fraudulent displays. You may have noticed that the additional square metal plates issued by local authorities to 'minicab' drivers include the make and model of the cab in order to avoid misuse and there would seem to be no good reason why this information could not be added to the registrations of private vehicles in the UK.