Car reg.no. puzzle

[spikey]

I've noticed a couple of cars recently with strange registrations - three letters followed by four numbers.  In each case they're ordinary RHD cars with ordinary UK-style plates, and there's no international plate on the back.  They make no sense whatsoever as personalised plates, so what's it about then?

[melmerby]

NI uses 3 letters and 4 numbers (as do "Boris Buses" in London - LTZ xxxx*)

Also some of the Crown dependencies have similar systems.

 

* that's a surplus NI registration range

Edited February 7, 2019 by melmerby

[Mark Saunders]

A Northern Ireland registration number, can be used on all UK vehicle and makes a reg that has no year showing!

[spikey]

Well that's another mystery solved thanks to RMWeb.

 

Cheers chaps

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, spikey said:

Well that's another mystery solved thanks to RMWeb.

 

Cheers chaps

Like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom#/media/File:British_vehicle_registration_plate_NI.PNG

 

[Butler Henderson]

They are often used by coach and bus operators to disguise the age of the vehicles

[Damo666]

I remember from my youth, if the number plate (3 letters and 4 numbers format) , has a 'Z' in it, eg ABZ 1234, then it's pretty certain it's from Northern Ireland.

[101]

18 minutes ago, Damo666 said:

I remember from my youth, if the number plate (3 letters and 4 numbers format) , has a 'Z' in it, eg ABZ 1234, then it's pretty certain it's from Northern Ireland.

 

Z Didn't used to be used on number plates in the UK - except NI - not sure when they started to be used though I think it was probably with the new format?

[Kickstart]

Generally they started to be used on NI number plates in the late 1980s, while up to that point they tended to use the letter I instead.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[melmerby]

10 minutes ago, 101 said:

 

Z Didn't used to be used on number plates in the UK - except NI - not sure when they started to be used though I think it was probably with the new format?

Originally Z & I were reserved for all of Ireland. The ROI kept to the same system for many years after independence.

A relative of mine had a car that was originally registered in Dublin and it kept it's registration when it was imported to the UK (ZC 9635 or similar)

 

See this explanation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland

 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by melmerby

[Owd Bob]

There's a 'Car SOS special show on TV next week on the National Geographic channel, with a certain bald headed ex' Eastenders hard man actor who reckons when he was 20 he had a midnight Blue Capri with the reg' number JZT 194W.  

[Merfyn Jones]

Memory fails as you get older

[AndyID]

But why did they start the year letter thing? I always thought it was the motor trade's fiendish plan to make everyone "keep up with the
Jonse's" by buying new cars.

[TheQ]

They were running out of numbers,  so they added the date letter and could use all the numbers, well all  the six digit numbers again.  When that ran out, they switch to the current system. 

[37114]

Around the Hyde Park area of London you see quite a few cars that have 3 numbers, 1 letter, 3 numbers.  Apparently They are for foreign diplomats based in the Embassies. 

[jonny777]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

They were running out of numbers,  so they added the date letter and could use all the numbers, well all  the six digit numbers again.  When that ran out, they switch to the current system. 

 

Although to be pedantic, they ran out of number/letter combination earlier and so reversed them around 1960-ish. 

 

This meant that while already having ABC 123, they could now have 123 ABC in the same registration area.

 

But soon, they were running out of those combinations as well.

 

 

So they added a year letter (starting with A) at the end in 1963. This meant in theory they could use the same original number/letter combination each year because ABC 123 A was different to ABC 123 B (although I doubt it happened in reality). It took 20 years to reach the end of the alphabet (because they changed from Sept to Jan in 1967 in order to move the spike in new registrations away from the summer holidays - so there were two letters that year; and they missed out letters such as 'I' and 'Q'). 

 

In 1983 they just reversed the system again, putting the year registration at the front of the numbers/letters. Instead of ABC 123 A the new reg plates were in the form A 123 ABC. 

 

That lasted another 20 years, until they came up with the current half yearly combinations. 

[Compound2632]

When the registration system was run at county level, there could be some oddities. I recall reading of one county council that decided to issue even numbers to vehicles with an even number of wheels and odd numbers to those with an odd number. Three-wheelers didn't quite take off as they'd imagined, so after the first 5000 registrations they had to change their mind, with the result that a vehicle registered as X 123 was very much younger than X 124.

[jcm@gwr]

10 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

 

Although to be pedantic, 

So they added a year letter (starting with A) at the end in 1963. This meant in theory they could use the same original number/letter combination each year because ABC 123 A was different to ABC 123 B (although I doubt it happened in reality). It took 20 years to reach the end of the alphabet (because they changed from Sept to Jan in 1967 in order to move the spike in new registrations away from the summer holidays - so there were two letters that year; and they missed out letters such as 'I' and 'Q'). 

 

To be really pedantic, 'E' (1967) was the shortest year, it ran from Jan to Aug, and it was done to remove the spike from

the Christmas holidays. This reduced the appeal of a new car and registration for Christmas, I owned an 'E' plate Triumph

Vitesse 2L.

Also, 'Q' was/is reserved for 'vehicles of indeterminate age' ie imported cars, kit cars, etc.

[tigerburnie]

Do you remember your first cars reg? mine was PCA 602 on a 1958 Austin Cambridge, which was 10 years old when I bought it as a hard up Engineering apprentice.

[TheQ]

It had MGT in its number it was however just an ancient Anglia van... 

In those days by the time it was 10years old it was a rusty wreck. these days no rust!! 

[melmerby]

My first "car" was a 5cwt Thames van VUY823, that was in 1965.

It was originally my Father's, before that it was Beckett's (Wythall) egg delivery van.

Appropriately it was an eggshell beige colour.

 

It was the only vehicle that I have had that I was allowed to exceed 70mph in*, as later the same year that limit was introduced, at first temporary then permanent.

*downhill with a strong following wind in this case

[melmerby]

The actual changeover date from 3 numbers 3 letters to an "A" suffix wasn't universal amongst the local authorities, as some had run out of the original combinations and had to change (Middlesex) but others e.g. Birmingham still had loads left and changed a little later.

AFAIK there aren't any original A suffix Birmingham plates.

Only from 1 Jan 1965 was it compulsory for suffix letter registrations.

[Johann Marsbar]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

When the registration system was run at county level, there could be some oddities. I recall reading of one county council that decided to issue even numbers to vehicles with an even number of wheels and odd numbers to those with an odd number. Three-wheelers didn't quite take off as they'd imagined, so after the first 5000 registrations they had to change their mind, with the result that a vehicle registered as X 123 was very much younger than X 124.

 

Ipswich County Borough reserved the first 200 of any issue after the suffix letters were introduced for motorcycles, from memory. A few of their buses were an exception to this rule though....

[Kickstart]

2 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

Do you remember your first cars reg? mine was PCA 602 on a 1958 Austin Cambridge, which was 10 years old when I bought it as a hard up Engineering apprentice.

 

My first vehicle was a Honda H100 S, registration WIJ243.

 

My first car was an Alfa Sprint registration A91HEA

 

All the best

 

Katy

[melmerby]

Birmingham City Transport had a complete block of registrations reserved for their fleet replacement post war

JOJ1- JOJ999 were buses 2001-2999 (No 2000 was JOC200 following 1999 which was HOV999

Only when the registrations changed to the present system did the link between fleet numbers and registration numbers end.