Number Plate Stories
Business plate collections
Buying personal plates to advertise your business has grown in popularity over the last few years. Some companies like Pimlico Plumbers and D. Sankey Pest Control, have gone beyond the usual handful of plates, building instead vast collections. And according to Charlie Mullins, Managing Director of the plumbing company in London, other businesses are realising the benefits of personal plates and going out buying numbers in bulk, just to keep up with his.
For Deepak Bhatia, Managing Director of Dormouse Baby wear Plc, finding a succession of DEE plates was a dream come true. “I have always been interested in number plates,” said Deepak, “the first one I had was M3 BOY when I was 21. Then I had M5 BOY, 9 DEE and 50 DB.
“DEE 1, DEE 2 and DEE 3 are ideal plates for my company because it reflects the names we’ve given to the various lines of children’s clothes. We launched a new range of baby wear specifically for premature babies, called ‘Tiny Dee’ to run alongside our successful ‘Baby Dee’ range. We already have a popular boy’s line called ‘Dee’ and ‘Miss Dee’ for girls. We get comments about the plates all the time – it’s a good form of advertising and another reason for people to remember us.”
Deepak prides himself on the quality of their goods which is reflected in the shops that choose to stock his products, like the Knightsbridge store, Harrods.
Particular themes can be one reason to spark off a collection of plates for a business. Nichola Bentley from East Sussex says that her father has the number plate BRE 4D which he acquired over twenty years ago for his chain of bakeries in the south of England. When Nichola started her own Donut business around ten years ago, it was only natural that she thought of following suit. “I was really happy to find D8 NUT and D10 NUT to help advertise my company. I have D8 NUT on my new VW Beetle and D10 NUT is on my catering lorry. As you might imagine, they attract a lot of comments from customers.”
Even long established businesses like J.W. Norman & son in Oundle, North Peterborough, are turning to number plates to give them the edge on their competitors. James William Norman began the ‘High class fruiterer and florist’ business with his father, back in 1948. Over fifty years later, James is running the business with his son and daughter and looking forward to the possibility of the fourth generation of the family joining them. “We have three plates already, M1 JWN, L1 JWN and H1 JWN, on our vans. Plates are definitely worth investing in; they do the job of lifting you above the herd.”