Buying a personalised registration plate is something that requires careful consideration. However, many people may have spent years dreaming of that perfect number plate. This was certainly the case for Charles Hudd from Middlesex. A self-confessed motor enthusiast, Hudd attributes his love of cars to riding an Auto Scooter as a young boy with his Belgian grandfather. In fact, he built up considerable skill at moves that were banned on British fairground dodgems, but were actively encouraged on the French version.

Hudd dreamed of growing up and owning a fancy car with his own personalised registration, perhaps a Morgan with a ‘1 CH’ plate, but it took many years for his dream to finally be realised.

Then, as a young medical student, Charles and a friend decided to pay a visit to a Morgan dealership. He recalls the conversation with the salesman clearly, “We shall be doctors one day and we each wish to put our names down to buy a Morgan Plus Eight. However, we cannot afford the silly deposits required in South Kensington.” “Oh, so how much can you afford?” came the reply. “Twenty-five pounds please,” he responded.

This was written up in the order book, but it was twenty years later when Charles finally purchased his velvet green Morgan, built to his own specification, including customised seats fitted to his frame. He had purchased his dream car and he also managed to acquire his private number plate, 1 CH to proudly display on it.

Sadly, his dream car was the victim of a torching incident several years later, but his current car still displays his dream plate to this day.

read comments (0)

Maltese registration plates are used for purposes of identifying ownership and vehicles involved in accidents or criminal activity. The country’s registration plates have followed the same alphanumerical format since 1995 and this consists of a three-letter combination followed by a three number combination. The plates are white with the characters printed in black FE-Schrift font. On the left hand side of the plates there is a blue box, which contains the European flag, with a white letter M underneath, to signify Malta.

There are many special series of number plates in Malta, depending on specific jobs or vehicle type. The three-letter combination on rental car registrations always ends with a K, whereas the third letter of taxis and buses ends in a Y. Any cars which qualify as tax-free have a letter combination beginning with TF, while all vehicles owned by the Maltese government have registration numbers starting GV, this includes police vehicles, which display the three letter combination GVP. Military vehicles include the letters GVA and department of health vehicles include the letters GVH. The letters CD indicate a vehicle owned or used by diplomats.

There are certain exceptions to the standard registration format, including chauffeur driven vehicles, which are used to transport members of parliament. These follow the format GM followed by two numbers. The country’s Bishop and President are both exempted from the registration requirements and only have to display their official logos on their vehicles.

read comments (0)

People often buy private number plates that represent their names or the name of their business. However, there are lots of fun alternatives out there and Simon Dolan, managing director of SJD Accountancy found the perfect plate for him, which combined his love of music with his love for his son.

Dolan had been a life long fan of David Bowie and even managed to convince his wife that they should name their first born, Bowie, when he was born on the same date as the superstar. Years later, he was looking at personalised number plates and came across BOW 11E. Straight away he decided that he had to have it. He was really impressed with how quickly he was able to purchase the plate.

Though BOW 11E provided the perfect representation of Dolan’s musical hero and first son, he then decided he would like to honour his second son, Enzo, in the same way. He had a look around at what registration plates were available and opted to purchase ENZ 30.

Simon Dolan is a successful businessman, running SJD Accountancy, which he originally ran from his home, seventeen years ago and is now one of the top fifty accountancy firms in the country. Dolan feels that his personalised number plates add to his status, as people are always commenting on them. Bowie fans regularly photograph the BOW 11E plate, but Dolan says they are often disappointed when they discover the star himself isn’t driving the vehicle.

read comments (0)

Standard issue registration plates in Croatia follow a specific format, which consists of two letters followed by three to four numbers and suffixed by one to two letters. The prefix letters are separated from the numerical combination by the Croatian coat of arms, while the significance of the prefix letters is that the act as a city identifier.

There are some exceptions to the style of registration plates in Croatia. The alphanumerical combination, used on standard plates, is printed in black, but green numbers and letters are displayed on vehicles owned by foreign citizens, temporarily registered vehicles and those belonging to international organisations. Plates on larger vehicles, which are unsuitable to be driven along smaller roads, have their registration numbers detailed in red.

The plates on Croatian police cars differ further still, as they are assigned registration marks consisting of six numbers split into two groups, printed in blue, which are separated by the country’s coat of arms. Croatian military vehicles have yellow plates, though the registration numbers follow the same format as standard vehicles, with the exception that they display HV, which stands for Hrvatska Vojska, meaning Croatian military, in place of a city code.

All of the plates are made from metal, but when a vehicle is displayed for sale in a dealership, it is assigned a test plate, which is made purely from paper. This plate is attached to the right hand corner of both the front windscreen and the rear window. They follow a different format from the standard plates, consisting of five numbers, preceded by the city code and split by the Croation coat of arms. After purchasing a vehicle, the temporary plates may only be used for a period of five days.

read comments (0)

Nichola Dix used a personalised number plate to honour the memory of her late husband. She chose the plate N100 BOB, as her husband’s name was Bob and she decided, on the day before his funeral that she would purchase a license plate so that she would feel a part of him was always with her. This is not the only honour bestowed upon Bob, however, because he was a Divisional Fire Officer who also competed in the fire service football and fishing championships. So now, the fire service has angling and soccer trophies presented in his memory.

Nichola explains, “The N is for Nichola and 100 signifies the score in darts, as Bob used to play in the old days, along with many other sports. He was cruelly taken from me aged only 56. The number plate gives me such comfort, I can’t tell you. I come out of work and it’s like he is there waiting for me.”

Nichola said that she had the idea to purchase a plate in Bob’s memory the day before his funeral and managed to have a replica number plate, BOB 1, made up to place on his coffin. Apparently he had often thought about having his own private number plate, but it was something he never got around to.

Nichola explained, “He is greatly missed by everyone. He was a very fair man, with a vibrant personality. Our sons and I miss him terribly. I know I can’t bring him back, but at least when I am driving my car it is as though he is still with me.”

read comments (0)

The positioning of the ANPR camera is of utmost importance in order that the system operates effectively. Poor positioning can result in less than 50% recognition, whereas optimum positioning can result in the majority of plates being recognised.

Where ANPR is set up using a single camera at a barrier entrance, the camera should be located in a bollard of around 1m in height to allow direct viewing of the oncoming vehicle. Similarly, if a single camera is responsible for the surveillance of one lane of traffic, the ANPR unit should be pole-mounted at a distance of between 18 and 30m from the oncoming vehicles. The use of multiple cameras to cover multiple lanes, for example on a motorway, is a more complex operation.

CCTV cameras have long been an integral part of our town centres, but these are now being installed with ANPR technology. As a result, the cameras need to be adapted and re-positioned to allow optimum use of the technology. The shutter speed on a standard CCTV camera is 1/50sec, but ANPR cameras should have a shutter speed setting of 1/1000sec, though a shutter speed of 1/500sec would be adequate for traffic travelling at up to 40mph. Once the cameras have been fitted with ANPR their position needs to be checked to ensure an adequate percentage of recognitions.

Police vehicles installed with ANPR cameras usually have them swivel mounted, which means that the cameras can capture images to the front and sides of the vehicle.

read comments (0)