UK car number plates explained: rules, history and what they mean

It may just seem like a confusing mix of numbers and letters but number plates actually serve an important purpose. Most crucially, your car’s number plate makes the vehicle easily identifiable. The very first plate ‘A1’ was issued to Earl Russel, who made his butler queue overnight at the London County Council Offices to obtain the registration. This was all the way back in 1903 when parliament introduced the Motor Car Act. 

Over the last 100+ years, that first number plate has become legendary and is now the most valuable plate ever issued in the UK. It is currently owned by the Sultan of Brunei’s brother, Prince Jefri who also owns the sister plate, ‘1A’. Both are reportedly used on a pair of matching Bentleys that the Prince only uses to carry him and his friends to and from a private jet. If you'd like your own plate, go to our homepage to find as many private number plates as your heart desires!

Personalised number plates are becoming big business. They are originally issued by the DVLA and then sold on, with some of the most coveted plates changing hands several times for increasingly eye-watering sums. This practice began in 1989 and since then more £2 billion has been raised for the public coffers. The cost of a car number plate begins at just £89 but can run into thousands of pounds depending on popularity. The most expensive number plate ever sold was ’25 O’ and it went for £518,000 in 2014. It now sits on a classic Ferrari 250SWB that is worth around £10 million. 

Combinations

Even as far back as 1903 it wouldn’t have taken long for single number and letter combinations to run out. From 1903 to 1932 the rules remained the same; each plate had a single or double letter combination followed by a number between 1 and 9999. Letters were issued based on population density with ‘A’ being assigned to London, B to Lancashire and so on. Double combinations began with matching numbers so ‘AA’ for Hampshire followed by ‘AB’ for Worcestershire. The final combination was ‘FP’ used for Rutland. 

By 1932, the two letter codes were almost all used up. This led to another letter being added and the number combinations being reduced from 9999 to 999. The system changed again in 1962 when another letter was added after the numbers making the number plate seven digits long. These letters were used to identify a car’s age with ‘A’ signifying a 1962 vehicle, ‘B’ 1963 and so on. In 1983 the system was reversed to allow for yet more combinations to be created. This ran until 2001 when the system we currently use was introduced. 

The Current System 

In 2001 it was almost all change for vehicle registrations. Although number plates remained seven digits long, the meanings changed entirely. 

Two Letters: The first two letters on a number plate referred to the local DVLA office. Centralisation in 2013 has amended this slightly so the two initial letters reflect a region.

 
Two Numbers: Every six months, the two numbers used at the start of a plate change. The numbers indicate when the car was first registered with cars sold in the first half of the year using the last two digits of the year. For 2016 this would be ‘16’, for 2017, 17 and so on. Cars registered in the second half of the year have the 50 appended to the year’s value. A car registered in September 2016 will therefore be assigned the number 66.  

Three Letters: While digits give information about the car and it’s year of registration, the final three letters of the plate are randomly generated, making each vehicle plate unique and identifiable. 

                                                               
Personalised plates can conform to any of the standards set out over the years or can be dateless. This allows for a huge combination of numbers and letters, making the personalisation opportunities almost limitless. 
Number plate rules are not an exact science and there are multiple exceptions to the general guidelines described. The letters ‘I’, ‘O’, ‘L’ and ‘Z’, are not used for example because they bear to great a resemblance to other letters and numbers. ‘Q’ is also no longer used but you may see it on older plates. Up until 2001 it was used on stolen or recovered cars that couldn’t be identified and on custom or kit cars. 

Presentation Rules

Have you ever noticed how all UK number plates look exactly the same? This is done for a specific purpose. Not only is this format easy to read it’s also useful for the Automatic Number Plate Registration (ANPR) system which is used to quickly identify cars. You’ll often see the ANPR sign displayed in car parks and garage forecourts. 

Driving a car with a number plate that doesn’t follow UK regulations on font, sizing or spacing is illegal and carries a fine of up to £1000. Despite this risk, some car enthusiasts do still use non-standard plates because they think it makes the car look authentic. For instance, many VW and Audi enthusiasts use a German embossed font despite it being illegal in the UK. 

As well as these rules there are several others which govern plate appearance: 

1.    Number plates must be properly illuminated at night. 
2.    Plates must be legible and can’t be obscured by dirt. 
3.    It must be manufactured to British Manufactured Specifications. 
4.    EU or national emblems are the only embellishments allowed on a plate -they must be fitted on the left hand side. 

Buying Plates

Buying a replacement number plate may seem straightforward but you actually need evidence the car is yours. This stops crimes such as vehicle cloning. If you decide that you want a personalised number plate, you will also need to go through a similar process to prove ownership. We offer an assisted transfer service to make this much easier. 
If you do choose to use our service, one of our team members will contact you within 24 hours of your purchase. We will need details of the vehicle you want to put your new private plate on. Once this has been processed the amended log book and MOT will be sent through to you. Visit our homepage to search our entire database of 42 million private and personalised plates.