Number Plate Stories

What are number plates all about?

By Ruby Speechley

Over forty years later and we’re just as crazy about number plates, some would argue, more so. There are certainly some staggering price tags to prove it. A 1 is thought to be worth one million pounds and the highest number plates you can buy today are X 1, E 1 and Y 1, all at half a million pounds.

Despite escalating prices, everyone can own a personalised number these days, for as little as £80. Whether buying from an approved dealer or the DVLA, they aim to take care of the paperwork for you, making it a simple and uncomplicated transaction. And the reasons people are buying number plates? The reasons are incredibly wide and varied. It can be for your name or initials or to spell your business name or profession, like P1 LOT. If you have a rock idol, ELV 1S could be the one for you, or perhaps you’d rather curl up with your feline friend, in which case you might prefer CAT 1.

‘Novelty number plates lower the tone of the others,’ commented The Observer, in October 1965. Although this rather snobbish attitude is still held by some today, it misses the point about number plates - that they are essentially good fun. And it seems that number plates have crept into many areas of modern life over the past 40 years.

On every high street you can buy T-shirts, greetings cards and key rings that spell number plate slogans like S3 XY. They feature in virtually every advert selling the latest motor. Prestigious cars in films make statements with plates, like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with its genius creation, GEN 11. Even children’s television programmes are showing that it’s not just the high flyers who have their own personal numbers. Ordinary, everyday people, like the character Postman Pat with PAT 1 on his van, can have them too.

Despite the playfulness of plates, a deeply touching aspect of personal numbers has emerged over the last few years. People are buying them specifically to remember a loved one who has died. Others are listing them in their Will as a serious addition to their legacy and businessmen are buying them up like stocks and shares, selling them when their value hits a peak.

Whatever your view on personalised number plates, they have without a doubt become an intrinsic part of our lives. And if you’ve still to find your ideal match, don’t worry, there’s a plate out there to suit everyone, no matter how unusual the reason!

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