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