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