Regional number plates

[carlo]

Where a car comes from always interests me, it's one of the first things I look at when I buy one. Was looking at at old Observer's book of Automobiles this morning, so thought I would scan this list of all the different regions and their letters. Whilst I knew anything with an 'S' in the middle was from Scotland, I wasn't aware an 'S' anywhere in the two letters is a Scottish registration. An 'X' somewhere often seems to signify Wales, whereas the well-known 'I' and 'Z' are Northern Irish of course.

 

Looking over most of my old cars it seems the furthest one ever travelled to get to me was the Fiat 850 Coupe, which originated from Cheshire.

 

 

Whilst a Chrysler Alpine I had for a short while hailed from Wolverhampton (YUK 286T), so could that have been a Ryton demo?

 

 

Here's the list:

 

 

 

 

 

[mk2_craig]

Fascinating - but not the whole story. The regions allocated changed on occasion, for example VS stopped being Greenock sometime in the 1970s if I remember correctly and was moved south of the border (Befordshire maybe?). There'll be more gen out there in internetland somewhere!

[Cavcraft]

I used to be enthralled by number plates as a kid, and carried a book round that said where vehicles were from. Even now when someone post an eBay link I always notice any 'LG', 'FM', 'TU' or 'MA' plates as they're all local to me.

 

Interesting about the 'X' bit too, I had a Mk2 Cavalier registered D178 OTX and I'd never seen that (TX) combination before. One potential buyer said it didn't exist and wouldn't buy the car off me because he thought it was a ringer!

[shaun1706]

IIRC UN for Denbigh was changed to somewhere like Exeter or the like. Plenty of *UJ round my way as you would expect for Salop.

[Cavcraft]

'UJ' (and another I can't remember right now) plates must have been of the major ones on old Lambrettas as I've seen loads with that suffix.

[cms206]

Fascinating - but not the whole story. The regions allocated changed on occasion, for example VS stopped being Greenock sometime in the 1970s if I remember correctly and was moved south of the border (Befordshire maybe?). There'll be more gen out there in internetland somewhere!

 

VS moved to Bedfordshire right enough, IIRC; XS was discontinued, WS moved to Bristolshire.

[quicksilver]

Fascinating - but not the whole story. The regions allocated changed on occasion, for example VS stopped being Greenock sometime in the 1970s if I remember correctly and was moved south of the border (Befordshire maybe?). There'll be more gen out there in internetland somewhere!

 

VS moved to Bedfordshire right enough, IIRC; XS was discontinued, WS moved to Bristolshire.

 

VS and GS went to Luton and could often be seen on Vauxhall press cars. I think the local government reorganisation of 1974 prompted most of these changes, certainly anything with an X in the middle was discontinued then, as were UN and VD for some reason. Where I live in Bucks we haven't had a registration office for many years so vehicles round here even now are typically registered in Northampton, Luton or Oxford.

 

I guess this is one of the few places where I can say I know where most pre-2001 registrations originated from without being ridiculed - still can't get my head around the current system though!

[Justin Case]

'UJ' (and another I can't remember right now) plates must have been of the major ones on old Lambrettas as I've seen loads with that suffix.

[anorak mode]XU* suffixes are age-related ones issued to vehicles that have lost their original registrations, they used to have *SK prefixes, but I supppose that they ran out of them. A lot of others changed when local government was re-organised (I don't know the date, but it was when the West Midlands County was set up, and all Black Country numbers were issued from Dudley.)

 

The appropriate YUK number for the Alpine wasn't a Ryton one; at that time Coventry had DU, HP, RW and possibly one two others. Most of those would have been issued to cars bought by workers in the factory at a healthy discount, so even a Coventry registration doesn't necessarily mean an interesting history

[carlo]

'UJ' (and another I can't remember right now) plates must have been of the major ones on old Lambrettas as I've seen loads with that suffix.

[anorak mode]XU* suffixes are age-related ones issued to vehicles that have lost their original registrations, they used to have *SK prefixes, but I supppose that they ran out of them. A lot of others changed when local government was re-organised (I don't know the date, but it was when the West Midlands County was set up, and all Black Country numbers were issued from Dudley.)

 

The appropriate YUK number for the Alpine wasn't a Ryton one; at that time Coventry had DU, HP, RW and possibly one two others. Most of those would have been issued to cars bought by workers in the factory at a healthy discount, so even a Coventry registration doesn't necessarily mean an interesting history

 

I've certainly owned enough Ryton 405s anyway, the majority either JWK or OWK.

[MK5 Escort]

I used to be enthralled by number plates as a kid, and carried a book round that said where vehicles were from. Even now when someone post an eBay link I always notice any ‘LG’, ‘FM’, ‘TU’ or ‘MA’ plates as they’re all local to me.

 

Don't forget 'MB' and 'CA' ! I must admit, I have a habit of pointing them out whenever I travel anywhere of any distance (i.e - 100+ miles) onding the history behind they're travels to where they are now. The same goes for the new numberplate system where all our local cars are under DA-DK.

 

'UJ' (and another I can't remember right now)

 

My Escort is a 'UJ'.

 

'UJ', 'AW' and 'NT' are all Shrewsbury - or thereabouts. I'm sure there's another one out there that I've forgotten about unless my mind is playing tricks. It was the only region where the company my father used to work for used to buy their Fords form.

 

It's also the region where Europcar (or whoever) seem to buy all of their rental Vauxhall's from. There's absolutely shedloads of DL-DY Vauxhall's just about everywhere on the mainland UK. I'm always happy to see Shrewsbury cars batting around...

[boobydoo]

Thanks for the post, it's interesting.

 

My Chrysler is FHP which is Coventry and it was a Chrysler UK car originally.

More interesting is that my Dad bought a new Marina in 1973 in Bath, reg SGL229M which according to the list is a Bath area car. However when he replaced it with another one in 1978 from the same garage he got UHW476T, HW being Bristol. I can only assume the Bath office closed down in the interim and dealers had to sally forth to Bristol to register their new motors.

[quicksilver]

Looking at that list I was puzzled to see QA-QS listed as London marks - has anything with a Q in ever actually been issued as I've certainly never seen one?

[Guest]

OK, so with my shit I've got:

 

GY for the Citroen which is Manchester,

YO on the 460 and Amazon which are both Central London,

PO on a piece of secret shite which means it hasn't left its local area,

PV for the 305 which means it never really left the area the plate originated (Ipswich) - I bought it from a trader in Norwich, and

UL for another piece of secret shite because they were all block registered in London.

[Angrydicky]

Ah, I've got that book!

 

I've never bought a car from more than 100 miles away, and most within SE Essex, so most of my cars have had either Southend, Essex or London registrations. I always look out for HJ and JN (Southend Council before 1974, afterwards merged into the rest of Essex) registrations on cars a long way from home. I think my record was a GHJ registered Austin Somerset located in the Scottish Highlands! I've also seen an LHJ registered A30 on Ebay in North Yorkshire, and an A35 van with an HJ reg in Devon. I also love trying to work out which dealership supplied the car new, any Austin with an HJ/JN reg was usually supplied by Southend Motor and Aero Co (SMAC's), Morris's by Kennings or S&A, any Rootes car Holmes & Smith, Standard/Triumph by Oasis Garage (later Vauxhall) and any Vauxhall by Woodyatts of Milton St, Westcliff.

 

Incidentally, my 1958 A55 MK1 was originally supplied new by SMAC's as PJN 656. Unfortunately somewhere along the line it's had its number "robbed", but I find it amazing that 12+ owners and 54 years later it still lives less than 5 miles from the dealership that supplied it new (long gone) and has always lived in and around Southend on Sea.

[pompei]

AG became Hull, hence all the BAGs, HAGs and SAGs which could all have been personal regs for the ex Mrs P

[Shep Shepherd]

I've had two Kents (WKP and SKR), one London (FLH), one Bedfordshire (UTM), one West Yorkshire (OWG) and one Cumbria (BAO). The Volvo's 'private plate' (GSD) is Scottish

[carlo]

Never realised the Camry I had for a couple of years was Welsh!

 

[AndyW201]

Great thread, glad I'm not the only one interested in this!

 

I first got interested when taking my driving lessons, my instructor had that book, and was always pointing out where the unusual ones were from. I soon learnt a lot from working at a Rover dealer at that time, with all the fleet cars we all got in. Like the 200s and 400s from British car rentals with their factory regs (almost always WK, EA or UY), BSM Metros also with factory regs (usually WK or AC), and Maestros from Appleyards of Leeds (nearly always UA, WW or YG).

 

I drove a Peugeot 406 taxi a few years ago, R807 FWK, I always wondered if it was a factory car. The same firm had a Rover 600, on P305 VWP. That strikes me as a factory number as well? Then came a new Mondeo with S235 OGA. Stacks of Mondeo taxis in our area had GA and GB, a sure sign that they came all the way from Williams in Paisley.

 

This knowledge was also handy in tracing where my early shite came from. The Metro was first (TRM 894 X, so Keswick.), the Escort was A247 CJR, so I guessed Gateshead. The original dealer plates said Peter Garven, who did have a Ford dealership in Gateshead at the time (about the only old car I've had that came from anywhere near my home). The Fiesta S that came next was F260 FHH (Cumbria again, Wigton this time).

 

Then came a few new cars, so obviously a lot of Teesside numbers (Rover Metro and 2 Rover 100s- L551 JVN, N441 VPY & N275 ADC. VPY was written off at 5 months old. And 3 K11 Micras! P552 EVN, R383 UEF and V452 GAJ).

 

Then back to old shite. I've had 4 Mercedes 190s. The weird thing is my first one was a red sportline (a rare model) with the number plate H995 EBM (Buckingham I believe). Now I have another red H reg sportline, currently on a council private plate, but it's original reg was H679 KBM. Surely from the same dealer, and one registered not long after the other. Both have come a long way up to Middlesbrough!

 

Not to mention the Mk1 Escort I owned in the mid 90s (just before prices went stratospheric),VLY 484M (she was an Essex girl...). And my much missed (and recently dicked about with by several ebay bellends/engine-rapists) Allegro, originally from Queensferry (N. Wales?), AMA 261S.

 

Recent new style reg'd cars of mine included the MG ZR (VO51 TZE, Worcester I think?), The current Astrashite is the most travelled car I've had so far, with WF53 WNP (Taunton, Somerset).

 

I need to get out more....

[Pete-M]

OK, so with my shit I've got:

 

GY for the Citroen which is Manchester,

 

Not quite. With the new system it's different. Your C4 is MT - which is Manchester / Merseyside.

 

Incidentally, when the current reg system was introduced DVLA Trafford Park issued a load of registrations to Peoples Ford which were all "MU". They ended up changing them as Scousers don't want Man Utd reg plates....

 

I learned this stuff as a kid. It's funny, but when I'm driving in Europe I'm always inordinately happy to see a local reg plate miles from home. I spotted a Saab 99 Turbo in Poland with Liverpool plates - with my local Saab dealer logo. The plates I always think of first are KA, KB, KC, KD, KF, LV, then it's ED, CM, HF and DJ are the most local to me.

 

My fleet has a few anomalies. The Jag and Jeep have always had 'cherished' plates so they don't indicate their original regions. Jeep is from Ipswich, Jag from Guildford. Escort was RZ-D which is the local plate for Ratzeburg & Hertzogtum Lauenburg, Schleswig-Holstein.

 

604 has AC which is Coventry.

Senator is KX which is Buckinghamshite.

[Angrydicky]

I've just realised everything I've ever owned was either registered in London or Essex, which the exception of one A35 (KN = Kent) and the Austin Atlantic, which started out life in Exeter (FJ) and is the furthest travelled of all my cars. Others I currently own:

 

A55 MK1 currently has an age related plate, but was originally JN which is Southend.

A55 MK2 is YV which is London.

A35 #1 is NO which is Essex.

A35 #2 is MP which was Middlesex CC, later London.

Austin 1100 is LC which is London.

[HMC]

Our disco is UJ, which iirc is shrewsbury. A long since departed merc g45juj I had some while ago. Unusually I ve had a coupe of isle of wight regs- old morris Traveller, xdl193, and an Ex lord Romsey xj12 TDL333X, though I think by 1981 the issuing authority had changed to portsmouth. My P4 is XM, which is south east london where it was run by an engineering works. Our old reliable civic is BA- manchester. Appropriately enough the MGB GT is GT- a london reg i think.

[carlo]

OK, so with my shit I've got:

 

 

 

604 has AC which is Coventry.

Senator is KX which is Buckinghamshite.

 

No doubt a Peugeot head office demo then Pete. Doubt if they were shifting too many 604s in 1983/4!

[Pete-M]

OK, so with my shit I've got:

 

 

 

604 has AC which is Coventry.

Senator is KX which is Buckinghamshite.

 

No doubt a Peugeot head office demo then Pete. Doubt if they were shifting too many 604s in 1983/4!

 

It appears to have been a proper cock-up at some point. It was built in March '82 to Australian RHD spec and registered here as new on 1/7/1984 so it quite probably did end up being registered by Peugeot UK just to get rid of it. Chap I bought it from had it from '85.

[Ross_K]

How old is that book? It's got (southern) Irish regs - some of them were in use up to 1987.

 

I think that if you had an Irish reg issued before 1922 you could transfer it into the UK system.

 

VIP 1 was a Kilkenny reg which is on Roman Abramovich's Rolls Corniche now. He bought it for £285000.

 

On a more mundane note none of my cars travelled too far from where I was at the time...

 

PHS - Renfrew

KLS - Selkirk

WIB - Armagh

JSX - West Lothian

ZHI - South Tipperary

UGG - Glasgow

DIP - Kilkenny

NCZ - Belfast

PKH - Hull

KCD - Brighton

VAP - East Sussex

[vulgalour]

As the scant history with the car already suggests, this confirms that the Princess is a Yorkshire lass now living over the border in Derbyshire. Interesting stuff, I'd never really understood until now how people decyphered location from old number plates.

 

I assume this doesn't work for the newer layout of A123BCD but rather the old one of ABC123D

[eddyramrod]

Oh yes it does! To take an example from my home town, Southport: BFY 903B was a Southport-registered 1964 Hillman Super Minx. B903 BFY would have been issued in Liverpool in 1985 (if at all) because Southport's combinations of FY and WM were sent there in the 1974 reorganisation. It's only with the current system that things changed dramatically. When we bought Mrs R's brand new Suzuki in 2006 we got PK 06 BGY, PK being a Preston combination as Liverpool office was closed down in the 90s. Always thought that was a mistake, myself...

 

Somewhere, sadly not on my computer, I have a photo I took of my red Marina, NFR 305P. Parked in front of a two-year-old cream Orion, C305 NFR! If I ever find it I'll post it up... (FR was Blackpool, later Preston.)

[chaseracer]

My Escort is a 'UJ'.

 

'UJ', 'AW' and 'NT' are all Shrewsbury - or thereabouts. I'm sure there's another one out there that I've forgotten about unless my mind is playing tricks...

UX is the other Shropshire reg.

[vulgalour]

Interesting... my other car is DV which is down as Devon, but I know the car spent his formative years in Lincolnshire. Possible code change, or just registered in Devon and sold in Lincolnshire?

[chaseracer]

Dyane 6 - HNP - Worcestershire

GS1220 - TUY - Worcestershire

BX 16RS - YKO - Kent

BX 19GTi - BLT - London

Dyane 6 - PMR - Wiltshire (had this one 22 years!)

Saab 96 - JTD - Lancashire

Volvo 240 - DEY - Anglesey

Peugeot 309 - VRE - Staffordshire

Punto - MFG - Brighton (though originally Fife...)

XM - MVR - Manchester

XM - WPF - Surrey

Blingo - DN - Shrewsbury

 

AAZ - Belfast (Paddy plate that's been on the last three)

[Cavcraft]

Our disco is UJ, which iirc is shrewsbury. A long since departed merc g45juj I had some while ago. Unusually I ve had a coupe of isle of wight regs- old morris Traveller, xdl193, and an Ex lord Romsey xj12 TDL333X, though I think by 1981 the issuing authority had changed to portsmouth. My P4 is XM, which is south east london where it was run by an engineering works. Our old reliable civic is BA- manchester. Appropriately enough the MGB GT is GT- a london reg i think.

 

In that case I'd hazard a guess that the Disco was reg'd at either Wadham Kenning or Shukers. The latter was an ace old place selling tractors and shit before WK lost the franchise.