Discussion
Just an idle thought really, but Britain's system of number plates is absurdly complex and a bit silly.
If I understand it right they wanted a system with a geographic component and an age identifier. So for the age part they split the year in two, March to September being the last two digits of the year and September onwards being the year plus 50 (why 50?), until the following March. Then for the geographical location they decided to invent completely new regions denoted by a letter vaguely related to it, so G for 'Garden of England' which is Kent as you would expect, plus a chunk of East Sussex. N for North East, but including Cumbria which by any rational definition is north west.
So the question is who came up with this? How did they arrive at this format? And why? And a passing curiosity as to how much they got paid...
As a layman it seems that the easiest way to do it would be to have the county written underneath, the last two digits of the year and an arbitrary string of letters and numbers that are unique to that vehicle. What am I missing?
If I understand it right they wanted a system with a geographic component and an age identifier. So for the age part they split the year in two, March to September being the last two digits of the year and September onwards being the year plus 50 (why 50?), until the following March. Then for the geographical location they decided to invent completely new regions denoted by a letter vaguely related to it, so G for 'Garden of England' which is Kent as you would expect, plus a chunk of East Sussex. N for North East, but including Cumbria which by any rational definition is north west.
So the question is who came up with this? How did they arrive at this format? And why? And a passing curiosity as to how much they got paid...
As a layman it seems that the easiest way to do it would be to have the county written underneath, the last two digits of the year and an arbitrary string of letters and numbers that are unique to that vehicle. What am I missing?
The current system (2001 on) will last 50 years, and uses new county/region codes.
I AFAIK anything Scotland starts with an S, anything East Anglia starts with E or A.
The old systems (1963-83, 1983-2001) lasted about 20 years each, and used the same county codes as the original 1902 system. I used to recognise local cars as JH or BM but not anymore.
I AFAIK anything Scotland starts with an S, anything East Anglia starts with E or A.
The old systems (1963-83, 1983-2001) lasted about 20 years each, and used the same county codes as the original 1902 system. I used to recognise local cars as JH or BM but not anymore.
I wish they had kept the old county and city letters. UN from Barnstable, JR Newcastle, EW Peterborough and so on. One of my cars is a 2001, Pre the change with a CH reg which I think is Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire. My other car which I think is a 62 plate has my late Dad's 1983 A plate on it with his initials. HE, Sheffield I think.
New reg numbers are meaningless now. I don't remember what age cars are when I used to. My best mate's Golf is I think 60 or 61, in the past I'd have remembered if it was a V or W reg.
As a kid my aunt lived close to a Ford dealer, the stockyard was at the back of her garden. I remember the thrill of seeing new reg cars ahead of August 1. My next door neighbour got a new Vauxhall every August 1. Exciting times when you were a kid. I can't see anyone even noting the plate change these days.
New reg numbers are meaningless now. I don't remember what age cars are when I used to. My best mate's Golf is I think 60 or 61, in the past I'd have remembered if it was a V or W reg.
As a kid my aunt lived close to a Ford dealer, the stockyard was at the back of her garden. I remember the thrill of seeing new reg cars ahead of August 1. My next door neighbour got a new Vauxhall every August 1. Exciting times when you were a kid. I can't see anyone even noting the plate change these days.
Randy Winkman said:
Do any of the components matter to anyone though? ie. Does it matter if a random person looking at the car knows where it's from or how old it is?
No it doesn't matter at all. It's just mildly interesting to some people in a very vague way. I think I may have mild autism as I find stuff like that interesting. I take it you never had the I Spy car number book as a kid? It works well enough as a unique identity and some information about age and region is there if you are interested, I was really just wondering how they arrived at that format.
More concisely:
Why invent new regions?
Why split the year March to September?
Why add 50?
Great if it lasts 50 years but using the numbers we already use to represent the year and the counties we already have to represent the location would last for ever with a reasonably short string of letters and numbers.
Eg. 14 Northumberland A1234 already allows for 260,000 cars registered in Northumberland in 2014, which seems like plenty. An extra letter gives you 6.7m which would let you dispense with the geographical element altogether.
2.2m cars registered in the UK last year.
More concisely:
Why invent new regions?
Why split the year March to September?
Why add 50?
Great if it lasts 50 years but using the numbers we already use to represent the year and the counties we already have to represent the location would last for ever with a reasonably short string of letters and numbers.
Eg. 14 Northumberland A1234 already allows for 260,000 cars registered in Northumberland in 2014, which seems like plenty. An extra letter gives you 6.7m which would let you dispense with the geographical element altogether.
2.2m cars registered in the UK last year.
I like the way numbers give you a hint about a car's origins.
O on Jags and Land Rovers for instance. I assume as I see lots of these they are lease cars. I had an MG ZT-T which was originally built for one of the Phoenix Four, it had factory service stamps and a BX plate. I saw a BX reg Rover a few minths back in a car park and got chatting to its elderly owner. His was a factory car too. All our lease cars where I worked were R and V registered, I guess Teading and Warwickshire have big lease depots?
Northumbria Police traffic BMWs all wear London plates, their Astras K registrations -same as a lot of oeased Mercs.
I quite liked having an SJ plated MX-5
OP your system does seem simpler with the name of the area on the bottom like US plates.
I know Germany and Ireland have regional plate 14 D then some numbers for a Dublin car, but how does it work elsewhere?
O on Jags and Land Rovers for instance. I assume as I see lots of these they are lease cars. I had an MG ZT-T which was originally built for one of the Phoenix Four, it had factory service stamps and a BX plate. I saw a BX reg Rover a few minths back in a car park and got chatting to its elderly owner. His was a factory car too. All our lease cars where I worked were R and V registered, I guess Teading and Warwickshire have big lease depots?
Northumbria Police traffic BMWs all wear London plates, their Astras K registrations -same as a lot of oeased Mercs.
I quite liked having an SJ plated MX-5
OP your system does seem simpler with the name of the area on the bottom like US plates.
I know Germany and Ireland have regional plate 14 D then some numbers for a Dublin car, but how does it work elsewhere?
The remit was: There must be an area identifier, there must be an age identifier, there must be no more than 7 characters (due to existing computer systems across the industry) and it must last 100 yrs.
The new system launched Sept 01 does that. 1st 2 letters are area, next 2 numbers are age (system should have gone live March 01 so first plates would have been 01, but didn't start until sept so 51. Then 02, 52 etc. up to 49/99 in 2049. Last 3 letters are random.
In March 2050 we go back the the start, except the 3 ramdom letters will come first.
So, in March 2064, a plate issued in March 2014 as AB14 XYZ can be re-used as XYZ 14AB.
Simples. And quite a good system.
The new system launched Sept 01 does that. 1st 2 letters are area, next 2 numbers are age (system should have gone live March 01 so first plates would have been 01, but didn't start until sept so 51. Then 02, 52 etc. up to 49/99 in 2049. Last 3 letters are random.
In March 2050 we go back the the start, except the 3 ramdom letters will come first.
So, in March 2064, a plate issued in March 2014 as AB14 XYZ can be re-used as XYZ 14AB.
Simples. And quite a good system.
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