Thursday trivia: Number plate location identifiers

paddy · 8 Apr 2010 at 18:01

Something I discovered today...

We all know in the new style number plates the 2 letter prefix is a location identifier to where the car was first registered:

AB51 XYZ
"A" is for Anglia and "B" is one of the 13 letters set out for Peterborough.

But did you know the old style number plates also contain the same location identifier:

A123 XYZ

YZ is the old code for Londonderry

I found the list in the front of a mates AA road map, however this website appears to have a pretty comprehensive listing.

Apologies for the spam if you knew that, hope you found it interesting if you didn't!

Lopéz · 8 Apr 2010 at 18:22

Aye, the Manta is from Taunton if I remember rightly.

Fr0dders · 8 Apr 2010 at 18:24

no i didnt know

interesting trivia

thanks

Jonny ///M · 8 Apr 2010 at 18:24

My dads old laguna had UGG so Glasgow and his newer one is SG07 so Edinburgh. We have no long distance ones

RandomTom · 8 Apr 2010 at 19:07

My car is a YR, but has almost certainly lived out its entire life in South/West Yorkshire.

Interesting bit of information though, I'll keep an eye out.

benjo · 8 Apr 2010 at 19:11

Interesting... Apparently mine is from Central London. I bought it near Paignton

K.C. Leblanc · 8 Apr 2010 at 19:12

How odd, it would seem that my Chrysler is from Gloucester and not as I had been lead to believe Illinois.

Meridian · 8 Apr 2010 at 19:16

Yes, I did know. Local plates were -EG, -EW mainly, with some -FL

M

Will · 8 Apr 2010 at 19:23

Anyone got a list of the current systems prefix locations? My car is 'WL' and I think its first owner was somewhere down in Cornwall, but never quite managed to find out...

paddy · 8 Apr 2010 at 19:38

Will said:
Anyone got a list of the current systems prefix locations? My car is 'WL' and I think its first owner was somewhere down in Cornwall, but never quite managed to find out...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom#Local_memory_tags

WL is Truro, so you wouldn't be far wrong

iaind · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:12

Knew that from when I was really young and had to ask "daddy, daddy, why do your cars always have registrations ending in DV or FJ and everyone elses end in G*..."

paradigm · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:23

What I don't get is why that site suggests that MV is london, when the car was quite blatently bought brand new from Bluebell BMW/Mini, Wilmslow, Cheshire. My old Saxo VTR was MA, which is apparently Chester, but it was bought in Manchester, new.

Will · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:28

paradigm said:
What I don't get is why that site suggests that MV is london, when the car was quite blatently bought brand new from Bluebell BMW/Mini, Wilmslow, Cheshire. My old Saxo VTR was MA, which is apparently Chester, but it was bought in Manchester, new.

Could it be that a franchised garage has one address that is used to register all new cars (purely for ease of administration), despite the dealerships having a number of different premises across a wider area?

paradigm · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:30

Will said:
Could it be that a franchised garage has one address that is used to register all new cars (purely for ease of administration), despite the dealerships having a number of different premises across a wider area?

Might explain the Citroen one, but the MINI no. Bluebell only have two dealerships, Crewe and Wilmslow, both in Cheshire.

iaind · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:32

My Mondeo was a CF (cardiff) registration, but was purchased brand new from an independent ford dealer in Teignmouth. Who knows...

Schizo · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:33

nice bit of info.

we have had our car for 4 years now and never found out where it came from.

turns out it came from Haverfordwest and my wife just turned round and said "i was born there"

how strange is that !

Fr0dders · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:36

paradigm said:
Might explain the Citroen one, but the MINI no. Bluebell only have two dealerships, Crewe and Wilmslow, both in Cheshire.

iaind said:
My Mondeo was a CF (cardiff) registration, but was purchased brand new from an independent ford dealer in Teignmouth. Who knows...

modern registrations (ie the xx 10 xxx) ones represent the local DVLA office.

For example the nearest DVLA office to leicester is the one in nottingham so all leicester cars start with F for Fens.

May well be that was the nearest DVLA office when registered for you iand.

Not sure how you explain paradigm's mini quandry though.

It was quite blatently not registered first at the dealer in cheshire.

Clarkey · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:48

That suggests mine was registered in Bangor, it was bought new in Crewe :/

Sone · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:48

i am suprised at this thread, i thought it was very common knowledge

iaind · 8 Apr 2010 at 20:49

MrLOL said:
modern registrations (ie the xx 10 xxx) ones represent the local DVLA office.

For example the nearest DVLA office to leicester is the one in nottingham so all leicester cars start with F for Fens.

May well be that was the nearest DVLA office when registered for you iand.

Not sure how you explain paradigm's mini quandry though.

It was quite blatently not registered first at the dealer in cheshire.

Given that there's an Exeter registration, I assume that's the closest DVLA office - about 15 miles from Teignmouth.

Actually, the Saab has an RJ registration, which is Reading but was purchased in Newport.

Maybe its dealers moving stock about after the car is registered but before the first owner?