| "The Motor Car Act 1903" started | | | | The letters I Q Z O and U were never |
| everything off. It said that every car | | | | used as a suffix letter in fact I Q and |
| had to be registered with a county | | | | Z were never used at all. By 1983 they |
| council or county borough council, and | | | | faced the same problem but deftly |
| every car had to display a unique | | | | extended the system by reversing the |
| identifying number issued to them by | | | | number plate giving a letter first then |
| such a council. | | | | up to 3 numbers then a space then 3 more |
| Initially each council was issued one | | | | letters. The first letter now gave the |
| letter to use on the number plates , | | | | age of the car. Prefix number plate |
| they could not have known how popular | | | | system |
| the motor car was to become and as the | | | | The Prefix Number Plate System |
| number of cars increased they quickly | | | | Table of "Age identifier " Prefix |
| ran out of combinations ,so they started | | | | Letters. |
| to use two and then three letter | | | | A 1 Aug 83 - 31 Jul 84 H 1 Aug 90 - 31 |
| combinations. By 1963 several councils | | | | Jul 91 R 1 Aug 97 - 31 Jul 98 |
| were close to the end of their | | | | B 1 Aug 84 - 31 Jul 85 J 1 Aug 91 - 31 |
| allocation, so a 7th digit was added to | | | | Jul 92 S 1 Aug 98 - 28 Feb 99 |
| the Number Plate System. This extra | | | | C 1 Aug 85 - 31 Jul 86 K 1 Aug 92 - 31 |
| digit was a letter ,so post 1963 numbers | | | | Jul 93 T 1 Mar 99 - 31 Aug 99 |
| had three letters then a space then up | | | | D 1 Aug 86 - 31 Jul 87 L 1 Aug 93 - 31 |
| to 3 numbers and then another letter | | | | Jul 94 V 1 Sep 99 - 29 Feb 00 |
| this last letter gave the age of the | | | | E 1 Aug 87 - 31 Jul 88 M 1 Aug 94 - 31 |
| car. | | | | Jul 95 W 1 Mar 00 - 31 Aug 00 |
| Suffix Number Plate System | | | | F 1 Aug 88 - 31 Jul 89 N 1 Aug 95 - 31 |
| The Suffix Number Plate System | | | | Jul 96 X 1 Sep 00 - 28 Feb 01 |
| Table of "Age identifier " Suffix | | | | G 1 Aug 89 - 31 Jul 90 P 1 Aug 96 - 31 |
| Letters. | | | | Jul 97 Y 1 Mar 01 - 31 Aug 01 |
| A 1 Jan 63 - 31 Dec 63 H 1 Aug 69 - 31 | | | | It may be noted that the letters I and Z |
| Jul 70 R 1 Aug 76 - 31 Jul 77 | | | | ( used for N.Ireland) are missing as are |
| B 1 Jan 64 - 31 Dec 64 J 1 Aug 70 - 31 | | | | Q ( reserved for kit cars and repaired |
| Jul 71 S 1 Aug 77 - 31 Jul 78 | | | | write offs etc) and the letter U ( |
| C 1 Jan 65 - 31 Dec 65 K 1 Aug 71 - 31 | | | | reason unknown). |
| Jul 72 T 1 Aug 78 - 31 Jul 79 | | | | By 2001 the problem was looming again |
| D 1 Jan 66 - 31 Dec 66 L 1 Aug 72 - 31 | | | | and the current system was introduced. |
| Jul 73 V 1 Aug 79 - 31 Jul 80 | | | | Now each number plate has 7 digits and |
| E 1 Jan 67 - 31 Jul 67 M 1 Aug 73 - 31 | | | | the first two letters give the region of |
| Jul 74 W 1 Aug 80 - 31 Jul 81 | | | | the country where the car was first |
| F 1 Aug 67 - 31 Jul 68 N 1 Aug 74 - 31 | | | | registered, followed by two numbers |
| Jul 75 X 1 Aug 81 - 31 Jul 82 | | | | which give the age of the car and then |
| G 1 Aug 68 - 31 Jul 69 P 1 Aug 75 - 31 | | | | three random letters . An example of |
| Jul 76 Y 1 Aug 82 - 31 Jul 83 | | | | this could be NE51 XXX. The NE tells you |
| You may notice that a further | | | | the car is from the North East of |
| complication to the number system came | | | | England (a table of these region |
| in 1967 when , under pressure from the | | | | identifiers is below ). The 51 tells you |
| motor car industry the changeover date | | | | it was registered in September 2001 and |
| was moved to August in an attempt to | | | | the last three letters mean nothing. |
| smooth out new car puchasing by the | | | | Current Number Plate system Current |
| public. It may also be noted that the | | | | U.K. Number Plates System The first |
| letters I and Z ( used for N.Ireland) | | | | two digits of each car registration |
| are missing as are Q ( reserved for kit | | | | denote the area of the country where the |
| cars and repaired write offs etc) and | | | | vehicle was first registered. |
| the letter U ( reason unknown). | | | | |