Understanding British license-plate numbers

I thought some of you might appreciate a run-down on the basic way that the numbering system on U.K. license plates works.

For a start, as the plates are not used in quite the same way as American license plates, they are generally just called "number plates" here, and the characters displayed are commonly called the "registration number."    Official terminology uses Vehicle Index or Vehicle Registration Mark.

A quick history lesson is probably the easiest way to get an understanding of how the system has developed and changed over the years.  

When vehicle licensing started a century or so ago, responsibility for running the registration system was vested in each individual county and borough council.  To this end, each council was allocated one or more identifying codes, each code consisting of either one or two letters.  Councils then assigned numbers to vehicles consisting of their area's code followed by a serial number of up to four digits.  

For example,  in the number AA 1234 the "AA" part indicates a Hampshire registration, while in D 5678 the "D" code indicates Kent.   Over the years, extra letter codes were assigned to those areas which needed them, so while London soon had many different combinations, a lot of less populated areas went for decades with only one or two.

All letter combinations which include an "I" or "Z" were reserved for Ireland, e.g. Z for Dublin and IT for Leitrim  (remember that until 1921 the whole of Ireland was part of the U.K.).    Letter combinations which include an "S" or which start with a "G" were used for Scottish registrations (e.g. SA is Aberdeenshire) although as codes were added in later years combinations without an S were also assigned to Scotland, and codes starting with "G" were used in England (particularly London).     Combinations starting with a "Q" were used for vehicles imported temporarily and not otherwise registered.

Other than these broad guidelines, there is no way to correlate the codes with the area other than by looking them up in the list.  

As the years passed the numbering capacity was extended by changing the format to three letters followed by a three-digit number.   The extra letter was added in front of the existing two-letter codes, so given a number such as BAF 123, it is the "AF" part which indicates the area (in this case, Cornwall).

By the 1950s, some areas were running short of usable number combinations, and councils started issuing registrations with the numbers and letters swapped over, e.g. 123 ALB.   Once again, the "LB" part of the number indicates the registration area (London).      Four-number/two-letter registrations were also used at this time, e.g. 5678 PB, with "PB" being Surrey.  

In 1963 a revised system went into operation which retained the basic three-letter/three-number format, but added another letter as a suffix indicating the year of registration.  Thus the number DLB 123C indicates a London registration (LB) in 1965 (C).    

The first few suffix letters ran for the calendar year, but in 1967 this was changed so that the registration year ran from August through July.  Thus F is August 1967 through July 1968, G is August 1968 through July 1969, and so on, with the letters I, O, Q, U, and Z not being used.  

Some registration districts were changed in the 1970s, partly due to the general rearrangement of local government which took place in 1974 and partly due to the introduction of the DVLC (now DVLA) in Swansea as a centralized agency.

When the Y suffix was reached in 1983, the system then moved the year letter to the beginning of the registration and swapped the positions of the other numbers and letters, e.g. A123 DLB, which indicates a registration between August 1983 and Juily 1984.    Again the letters I, O, Q, U. and Z were not used (although Q was once again used for some  imports, kit cars, and so on).

Note that Northern Ireland did not adopt this "year letter" system, and continued to issue registrations using the basic letters followed by serial number format, going to a 3L/4N combination which can be seen today, still with an "I" or "Z" as one of the letters, e.g. CIL 1234.

(The rest of Ireland had become independent in 1921, but they retained the original U.K. numbering system with registrations such as AZP 123 right up until they adopted a totally new system in the 1980s).

Getting back to mainland Britain, starting with the S prefix, the letters changed every 6 months so that the sequence was exhausted in 2001 ready for a completely new format to be introduced.  

New registrations since September 2001 have a completely different format, comprising two letters, two numbers, and then three letters, e.g. AP 02 ABC.

The first letter indicates the region of the U.K., with a little significance attached to the letter, e.g. N for North, L for London, W for West, etc.  The second letter indicates the registration office within the region concerned, the list now being much reduced from the older systems.    

The numbers indicate the registration date in 6-monthly intervals, the number being the year itself for March through August, and the year with 50 added for September through to February of the next year, i.e. 02 indicates March 2002 thru August 2002, while 52 indicates September 2002 thru February 2003.  The last three letters are now used as the serial "number" and are of no special significance.

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British cars do not get a new number when moving from one part of the country to another, so the number indicates the original place it was registered, not necessarily where it is kept now.   In general, cars do not change their number when sold to another owner either, so in fact the majority of vehicles retain the same number their entire life.

Personalized numbers have become more popular in recent years, and it's possible to buy certain numbers and have them transferred for a fee.   You might see vehicles with a Northern Ireland registration (e.g. CJZ 1234), often because the owner likes the fact that such numbers are "dateless."  

There are no separate series of numbers or different plates for trucks, taxis, commercial vehicles and so on as is common in many U.S. states, although there are a few different formats for special uses, e.g. diplomatic registrations such as 123 X 456 and military registrations such as 78 AX 90.  

And that is probably far more than you ever wanted to know......


Edited to add:

You can see a full list of the registration codes, year letters, etc. for both the old and new systems here:

http://www.wolfbane.com/vreg.htm

The last three letters are now used as the serial "number" and are of no special significance.

Good info, Paul! Having a car-freak BF, I did already know most of what you said, but certainly not all!

Regarding the last three letters, when I got my car last year, everyone here was very jealous because the last three letters are DDE. They all kept saying, "Ooooh! Pembrokeshire!! Lucky you!!" Apparently, that shows I'm local (or, at least my car is), which is much sought after around here. So do those last three letters have any significance? Or is that because my car is a 2000 (prior to 2001) model?

Wicked!!!  I just looked up my car....

My car is WELSH!!  I knew there was a reason I loved it! 

Glamorganshire!

My car is WELSH!!  I knew there was a reason I loved it! 

Welsh cars rock!!! 

Welsh cars rock!!! 

INDEED! 

So do those last three letters have any significance? Or is that because my car is a 2000 (prior to 2001) model?

The new system only came into effect for cars registered since September 2001, so yes, if it was registered before then the "DE" part of DDE is significant.

I would guess that you have a number which is V123 DDE,  W123 DDE, or X123 DDE, depending upon the exact date of registration (and obviously I have no idea what the actual numbers are).   

Here's a rough guide to how numbers would have been issued in your area, with the significant letters which indicate the district highlighted in each case:

DE 1234    (Original plan)

ADE 123       
BDE 123
CDE 123  etc. 

(Given that Pembrokeshire isn't a highly populated county, these numbers would almost certainly have lasted right up to the 1960s without the need to go to the reversed number/letter format which occurred in some places. If they had needed to do that though, then they would have started using 123 ADE,  123 BDE, etc.)

Then from 1963/64 the sequence would have repeated but with a new suffix letter each year, e.g.

ADE 123G
BDE 123G
CDE 123G etc., are all registrations issued 8/68 thru 7/69

ADE 123H
BDE 123H
CDE 123H etc., issued 8/69 thru 7/70, and so on until reaching Y in 1983.

Then:

A123 ADE
A123 BDE
A123 CDE etc., issued 8/83 thru 7/84

B123 ADE
B123 BDE
B123 CDE etc., issued 8/84 thru 7/85, and so on.


From September 2001,  it's the completely new system.  Presumably registrations for your area would now be under the Swansea office as that's the closest, so it would be something like:

CP 51 ABC    (9/01 thru 2/02)
CP 02 ABC    (3/02 thru 8/02)
CP 52 ABC    (9/02 thru 2/03), and so on.

The C indicates Wales (Cymru, of course), with P indicating the Swansea office (it could be R, S, T, U or V, which are all Swansea, but you get the idea).

You just have to remember that pre- and post- 9/2001 registrations are totally different formats with no correlation between the district letters whatsoever.

What happens after the 09/59 year, I guess 2010?  I guess they have time to devise a new system!

Matt

No, it will just carry on in sequence, still with 50 added for the September thru February half of the year, so 10, 60, 11, 61, 12, 62, etc. 

A few extra points I neglected to mention in my first post (Hey, it was late! ).......

When you import a used car and register it in the U.K., you will get a number not from the current issues but from a series appropriate for the age of the vehicle.    So if, for example, you imported a 2000 model now you might get a number such as W123 ABC or X123 ABC, not a new 2005 registration.

Similarly, if you imported that classic '57 Chevy it would get one of the old-style "dateless" numbers of the ABC 123 format, as the date-coded numbers were not introduced until 1963.

The letters might not reflect the area in which you register an older car now though, for some of these "unusual" registrations of imports and cars which have been re-registered after being stashed away in a barn for decades are now using up numbers from areas which were thinly populated and thus never used more than a small portion of their allocated blocks at the time.    Go to classic car shows, for example, and you might see quite a few recently imported American classics with an "SU" number, even though they've never been anywhere near the Scottish Highlands as the code would suggest.

As a general rule for both imports and for personalized numbers as well, you can use an older number on a newer car, but you are not allowed to transfer a number which "suggests" that the vehicle is newer than it actually is.  

Sometimes DVLA will issue a "Q" number to imports.  They say it's only when the age of the vehicle cannot be determined, although I've had several 1970s American cars on a Q-registration even though the ID on them shows the date of manufacture quite clearly.  I think it's more a case of DVLA assigning a Q-number if something in the paperwok at the time doesn't specify the date.  (And boy do I have a grievance with them over a certain Q registration, but that's another story..... ).

By the way, at one time all British plates were black with white, cream, or silver digits.  Reflective white front and yellow rear plates became a requirement in 1973, but older vehicles can still have black plates.

If you're importing, you'll also be aware that regular U.K. plates are either long and thin, or sometimes square, neither of which will properly fit the 12 x 6 recess for an American license plate.

It used to be the case that those of us who used 12x6 American-size plates were breaking the law, strictly speaking, although most people applied common sense and turned a blind eye.  Fortunately in this case a little lobbying from car clubs went a long way, and a few years ago the law was actually amended to recognize 12x6 plates where the digits are slightly below regulation size as being acceptable on imported cars.  

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The Isle of Man is not part of the U.K., but uses numbers which look very much like British numbers, since it was included when the original codes were devised, e.g. MAN-123-P.   In this case the letter on the end is not a year code but just part of the serial number.

The Channel Islands also use plates similar in style to U.K. plates, but with a totally different format as they are not part of the United Kingdom.  Jersey numbers are simply the letter J followed by the serial, e.g. J12345.  Guernsey registrations are just a simple serial number, e.g. 12345, except for the tiny island of Alderney which uses an AY prefix, e.g. AY 123.  

I mentioned that the Republic of Ireland switched from the original U.K.-type numbers to a new system in the 1980s.     The RoI is totally separate from the U.K. now of course, but just to complete the picture, the current Irish system is much simpler than the format we adopted in Britain in 2001.

The Irish registrations now use two digits for the year, followed by one or two letters indicating the county, then a serial number.   The county codes are easy to recognize as they use letters from the county name itself.  For example:  96-D-12345 is a 1996 registration in Dublin, 00-CE-1234 is a 2000 registration in County Clare, and 04-LM-1234 is a 2004 issue in County Leitrim.    

The newer Irish plates (since about 1992/93 if I recall correctly) also include the county name across the top -- The only catch is it's written in Gaelic!      Still, you often see Irish-registered cars in some parts of the country, so you can now play spot the tourist!    

No, it will just carry on in sequence, still with 50 added for the September thru February half of the year, so 10, 60, 11, 61, 12, 62, etc.

And in the year 2050...?   

You have an astounding knowledge of car number plates.  Any rhyme or reason to continental number plates?

If you moved from England to N. Ireland or vice versa would you need to re-register with new plates?

And in the year 2050...?   

In the Year 2525,  if man is still alive.......    Oops sorry, wrong year!     

You have an astounding knowledge of car number plates. 

Quite a few technical types seem to be into things like car registration systems as well.  Maybe it's something to do with an interest in classifications, numbering arrangements, etc.   

If you moved from England to N. Ireland or vice versa would you need to re-register with new plates?

No.  You can change the number if you wish, but it's not required.   

In recent years quite a few people have taken to transferring Northern Ireland numbers on to cars in mainland Britain, because the N.I. registrations are "dateless."

Over the years the whole year-coded numbers idea has resulted in quite a snob-culture among those who always want to be seen in the latest car.   The codes are based on the date of first registration, not the date of manufacture or the model year of the car itself, so in many cases you could have two cars which rolled off the production line at almost the same time, yet one registered on  August 1 is considered to be of higher value than one registered on July 31.    I've always found it quite laughable that somebody is willing to pay several hundred extra for a car just because it's registered as, say, K123 ABC instead of J123 ABC.

The change from annual to 6-monthly coding was actually prompted in part by the auto industry, which wanted to avoid the rush of buying which had become the norm in August as people tried to get a new car with the latest registration.

Any rhyme or reason to continental number plates?

The French arrangement uses numbers such as 1234 AB 56 or 123 ABC 45.  The two digits on the end indicate the departement, the French equivalent of counties.  The original assignments were more-or-less alphabetical order, with a few exceptions where Haute or Bas preceeds the name (High/Low, Upper/Lower) and for a few extras which were added in later years.     

So for example, 01 is Ain, 16 is Charente,  42 is Loire, 86 is Vienne, and 87 is Haute-Vienne.    The island of Corsica was also split into two, so instead of a 20 code there are the two separate codings 2A and 2B.  There's a joke in rural France that you should give any car with a "75" number a very wide berth!    Yep, 75 is Paris.   

These departement numbers are also used for other purposes, e.g. as the first two digits of the French postal codes.

Unlike Britain, the French system issues new plates for the apppropriate area when somebody moves from one departement to another.

France always used to use black plates with silver numbers until relatively recently when they started using white/yellow like Britain.  So far as I'm aware, they're the only Continental European country to use different color plates front and rear.

Most other European countries seem to use white with black letters front and back, although there are one two exceptions (the Netherlands has yellow both ends, and Belgium has white plates with red numbers). 

I'm afraid I'm not so knowledgable about the actual numbering systems used in other European countries.  I believe that the letters at the start of a German registration indicate the area of the country, but I don't know the details.   

Just to add if you're interested in these things the following site has comprehensive pages on U.S., Canadian, and Mexican plates from 1969 to the present:

http://www.15q.net/

I have a book on the history of U.S. license plates which goes right back to the beginning of the 20th century.  It's quite fascinating to see how how different states have implemented their systems over the years (plate colors, numbering formats, one or two plates etc.)

One piece of information which I did not mention originally is the situation regarding trailers. 

Under the U.K. system, trailers are not assigned their own numbers but whenever being drawn on the road are required to display the number of the towing vehicle.   So if you uncouple a trailer from one car and hook it up behind another, you are required to change the number plate on the trailer to match.