From 1st September 2001 all new vehicles will have number plates
showing where and when they were bought.
The first two letters will show where the vehicle comes from and
the next two, its age. Three random letters will follow these four
letters.
For example, AX51 DVL, shows the vehicle was bought in Ipswich in
September 2001. A represents Anglia and X means Ipswich.
The age identifier will change every six months in September and
March, i.e. 51 represents September 2001 and 02 indicates March
2002. 52 represents September 2002 and 03, March 2003.
This table will help you know which letters represent different
parts of the country:
- A is Anglia including Peterborough, Norwich and Ipswich
- B is Birmingham
- C is Cymru including Cardiff, Swansea and Bangor
- D is Deeside to Shrewsbury, including Chester and Shrewsbury
- E is Essex including Chelmsford
- F is Forest and Fens including Nottingham and Lincoln
- G is the Garden of England including Maidstone and Brighton
- H is Hampshire and Dorset including Bournemouth and Portsmouth
- K is Luton and Northampton
- L is London including Wimbledon, Stanmore and Sidcup
- M is Manchester and Merseyside
- N is the North including Newcastle and Stockton
- O is Oxford
- P is Preston and Carlisle
- R is Reading
- S is Scotland including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness
- V is Severn Valley including Worcester
- W is West of England including Exeter, Truro and Bristol
- Y is Yorkshire including Leeds, Sheffield and Beverley
There is a separate table to help show when vehicle was bought:
| Date | Code |
| Sept 2001-Feb 2002 | 51 |
| Sept 2002-Feb 2003 | 52 |
| Sept 2003-Feb 2004 | 53 |
| Sept 2004-Feb 2005 | 54 |
| Sept 2005-Feb 2006 | 55 |
| Sept 2006-Feb 2007 | 56 |
| Sept 2007-Feb 2008 | 57 |
| Sept 2008-Feb2009 | 58 |
| Sept 2009-Feb 2010 | 59 |
| Sept 2010-Feb 2011 | 60 |
| Sept 2011-Feb 2012 | 61 |
| March 2002-Aug 2002 | 02 |
| March 2003-Aug 2003 | 03 |
| March 2004-Aug 2004 | 04 |
| March 2005-Aug 2005 | 05 |
| March 2006-Aug 2006 | 06 |
| March 2007-Aug 2007 | 07 |
| March 2008-Aug 2008 | 08 |
| March 2009-Aug 2009 | 09 |
| March 2010-Aug 2010 | 10 |
| March 2011-August 2011 | 11 |
This pattern will continue until all permutations have been used
up. This is expected to take at least 50 years.
