Discussion
SC7 said:
Can anyone answer why the DVLA go for silly combinations on plates?
What exactly is silly about it?SC7 said:
Why did they over-complicate things after the Y plates?
They needed a new system after the suffix and prefix system combinations had been used up.It's not really complicated, part of the reason to switch to having two release dates for new plates was to ease the bottleneck for dealers, rather than being mad busy around the 1st August it's spread a bit more sensibly.
This scheme has three particular advantages:
* A buyer of a second-hand vehicle can in theory determine the year of first registration of the vehicle without having to look it up. However a vehicle is permitted to display a number plate where the age identifier is older (but not newer) than the vehicle.
* In the case of a police investigation of an accident or vehicle-related crime, witnesses usually remember the initial area code letters — it is then quite simple to narrow down suspect vehicles to a much smaller number by checking the authority's database without having to know the full number.[7]
* The scheme should have sufficient numbers to run until 28 February 2051.
SC7 said:
And why can't you have anything you like on a plate as long as you pay for it?
Probably because the fallout from people who have paid £000's for plates under the current systems would be too great if you could just buy any combination.Bubba Zanetti said:
* In the case of a police investigation of an accident or vehicle-related crime, witnesses usually remember the initial area code letters — it is then quite simple to narrow down suspect vehicles to a much smaller number by checking the authority's database without having to know the full number.[7]
.
In theory yes but in practice that definetely does not apply, given people will shop around to get the right price which often means buying from quite far away, both new and used. Out of our 3 car fleet only one is registered locally..
va1o said:
Bubba Zanetti said:
* In the case of a police investigation of an accident or vehicle-related crime, witnesses usually remember the initial area code letters — it is then quite simple to narrow down suspect vehicles to a much smaller number by checking the authority's database without having to know the full number.[7]
.
In theory yes but in practice that definetely does not apply, given people will shop around to get the right price which often means buying from quite far away, both new and used. Out of our 3 car fleet only one is registered locally..
The quote of mine is that the four digit codes are more easily remembered, irrespective of what area code the number plate originated. For instance people are more likely to remember MT12 rather than X381, whether MT12 is in it's "local" DVLA area or not.
You are correct in that the "area" codes get spread all over the country as people buy cars from all over the country.
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