Number Plate Stories

The rise of the new style numbers

By Ruby Speechley

Cars that were made before 1973 were allowed to keep their original plates i.e. white text on black backgrounds.

When the new style plates arrived, it was first thought that it would help increase car sales, but research commissioned by Halifax Building Society in August 2003 showed that a resounding 97% of those questioned said it made no difference to their purchasing decision. In fact, nine out of ten people thought a car with a new number plate was ‘not important at all.’ The survey showed that people seemed more interested in personalising their car’s registration.

The new style plates stay with the alpha numeric principle, but this time they are made up of seven characters in the following pattern – two letters, two numbers, a gap, then three further letters.

The first two letters are designed to show at which of the DVLA’s local offices a vehicle is first registered. Each local office has been assigned a unique set of two-letter memory tags.

Following that are two numbers known as age identifiers. Number 51 was the first age identifier used in September 2001. Every six month after that, the number changes again. For March, a different sequence is adopted, for example the first one was 02, signifying registration in March 2002. And so it continues, 52 for September 2002, 03 for March 2003, 53 for September 2003, 04 for March 2004 and so on.

The last three letters are random, introducing the letter Z for the first time. It is this part of the number plate that makes it unique. This is what cherished number plate enthusiasts all over Britain are on the look out for.

Four years on, the system is looking more promising than first thought, which is just as well because it is due to continue until 2049! In the meantime, have any desirable plates emerged?

Although generally speaking the new plates are not as striking as the old, it is possible to find some excellent examples. Because only a fixed number of characters are available, the plates showing most promise tend to be names or words.

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