Number Plate Stories

Half Million Pound Plate Squabble!

"I was told that a considerable sum of money turns on my decision, although I am bound to say that the evidence for that is sparse, and that whatever that sum may be it has, I am sure, been substantially exceeded by the legal costs the parties have incurred. My wonderment did not diminish during the course of the hearing."

He opined that the genealogy of motor cars was not of itself a proper subject for the court to investigate or decide, unless it was to rule on the rights of the parties in cases that were "justiciable", that is cases which could actually be determined by a court of law. But if there was no justiciable cause of argument, the court had no role to play.

The two men will have to wait to find out who foots the legal bill, estimated at more than £500,000 because the judge reserved his ruling on that aspect of the case. He also refused the men the right of appeal, although either can make a direct application to a higher court. The feud between the two men began more than four years ago.

Mr Lloyd, who made £32 million from the sale of his pharmacy empire, said his car was essentially the same as the original machine, having been rebuilt from the bulk of the original parts.

Mr Lloyd claimed that Mr Svenby's car, a Lister Jaguar of a type known as the Spaceframe, was a "reconstituted wreck" and a "copy built from a kit of parts".

In response, Mr Svenby sai that the other man's vehicle had been crashed soon after its Le Mans race and had lost the right to the chassis number because it spent 20 years off the road, being rebuilt.

The judge has referred the case to the DVLA and the Department of Transport.

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