| The story of number plate reg 76 JL |
23 Dec |
Jonny Leroux has been a car enthusiast since he was a young boy. He even goes so far as to class himself as a ‘petrol head’. By the age of 10 he was a fervent Ferrari enthusiast, collecting memorabilia and attending all the shows. In fact he even painted the Ferrari ‘prancing horse’ logo on his bedroom wall.
It is, therefore, no surprise that Jonny sat his driving test as quickly as possible, passing just four days after his seventeenth birthday. From that moment on, most of his spare cash was spent on cars and he says that remains true, even to this day. However, it wasn’t until he turned 21 that he discovered personalised registrations. His first plate was R80 JON, which he later sold for double the price he had originally paid for it.
Leroux then came up with the idea of matching people who have uncommon names with appropriate personalised registration plates. This process made profits for him and left his customers delighted to have their own personalised registrations.
Jonny has gone on to set up his dream business, organising days out at motor racing circuits, including Brands Hatch and Spa-Francorchamps. The success of his company has allowed him to finally purchase that dream Ferrari F355 GTB in gunmetal grey. Of course his dream car would not be complete without the dream registration plate, so he has fitted it with the plate, 76 JL, which denotes his year of birth and initials.
read comments (0)| Number plate stories – BS 1 |
16 Dec |
Bill Spence has accumulated quite a collection of personalised number plates over the years, having managed to acquire BS 15, BS 38, BS 43, BS 47 and BS 4747. However, it was his acquisition of the elusive BS 1, which provided him with one of his happiest moments.
Bill, who lives in Orkney, was very happy to have purchased the plate so that he could bring it back to his home in Orkney, from where it originated over 100 years ago. He originally bought the plate to put on his Jaguar XK8, as it displays his initials, but then he decided to delve further into the history of the registration number.
He approached the Kirkwall Archive in Orkney and discovered that, in his own words; “It was originally assigned to William MacLennan of Grainbank who held the registration for eight years until 1912 when John McEwan, Rector of Kirkwall Grammar School, obtained it. Subsequently it was assigned to the manager of the National Bank in Kirkwall, George Drever. Then in 1921 Charles Haydon of Lynnfield put the number on his new Crossley.”
He continued, “Eight years later the number was in Victoria Street, Stromness when the car was owned by Robert Cursiter; then, in early 1930, the Crossley bearing BS 1 was sold to John M. F. Groat of Moasound, Longhope.”
Bill recalls, “I first saw BS 1 on the old Crossley in JMF’s coal store in the 1950s soon before it left Orkney to go to Sheffield, where it was allocated to Bob Stanley.”
| Misrepresentation of Registration Marks |
23 Nov |
It is essential that anyone considering the purchase of a personalised registration mark pay particular attention to the rules that govern the trade. While people may search for the closest possible representation of their name, business or hobby, to display on their vehicle, they should note that mis-representation of the mark is illegal. This means that whatever mark you purchase must be displayed on a registration plate that meets the UK standard and the numbers and letters must be spaced correctly. The responsibility for adhering to this law lies with the registered keeper of the vehicle on which the plates are assigned and also the manufacturer of the plates. As of 2001, it is mandatory for manufacturers to print their company name and postcode on any plates they make up.
It should also be noted that the manufacture of plates that use fancy typefaces and do not follow spacing rules is not illegal in itself and there is a large market out there for novelty ’show plates’. It is, however, illegal to display such plates on a vehicle on public roads.
Breaking the law by misrepresentation of your registration mark may result in it being confiscated and you will lose your right to display it. As it is your responsibility to ensure the plate complies with the law you will not receive any financial compensation and can expect to be fined up to £1,000. Something else to bear in mind is that your car will fail its MOT if the registration mark is misrepresented or incorrectly spaced.
| Vanity registration plates |
20 Nov |
Personalised or private number plates are often referred to as vanity plates and any registration with two to three consecutive valid letters and a number from 1 to 999 with possibly another letter is allowed. Because many vehicles registered before 1963 have been destroyed, these “dateless” pre 1963 personal or private plates are usually highly sought after and valuable, and can be used to conceal the age of an older vehicle.
The Government’s Cherished Mark Transfer scheme allows owners to display a registration index more appropriate to a speciality or collector’s vehicle, and many private dealers act as agents for DVLA issues, and also hold their own private stock of dateless registrations and other cherished marks. The DVLA however can only offer for sale registrations that have never previously been issued and thus have a limited offering and limited scope. One may not use a registration index to make a vehicle appear newer than it actually is.
Prices of these plates are increasing on a yearly basis and to illustrate this are three examples of cherished plate values. At the end of year 2008 the record played for a number plate is £397,500 paid at auction in September by an anonymous buyer for the plate S 1. This unique number was originally owned by Sir John MacDonald and was the first ever number plate in Edinburgh. The number plate F1 was sold for £375,000 on 25th January 2008 and was originally fixed to a Panhard motor car in 1904, the number M1 was sold at Goodwood for £33,000 in June 2006, giving some idea of the value of some of the vanity or private number plates.
It should be noted that there are no restrictions on using a vanity or cherished registration on a car that is newer than the original date of the registration plate, but it is prohibited to transfer a registration that is newer than the vehicle it is used on. This is to prevent the transfer of newer registrations to older vehicles as a measure to protect consumers.
| The story of H6 YES |
16 Nov |
Anthony Heyes is extremely proud of his H6 YES registration plate. He explains, “I think the plate really sets the car off and I have an interesting story to go with it.”
He continues, “Some years ago I was travelling north on the M6 motorway heading towards junction 21a that leads off to Liverpool. I was plodding along at the unheard speed of 40mph; to this day I can’t think why I was at that speed.”
However, Anthony was not prepared for what came next or for the role that his personalised registration would have to play in the events.
He recalls “…as I majestically swept off the M6 to join the M62 westbound, I was woken out of my daydream by the usual flashing blue lights and for a second or two wasn’t sure if it was me they required to stop. The truth dawning, I signalled and stopped on the hard shoulder waiting for the officer to approach. The officer in question asked me to leave the vehicle and step to their Range Rover. He proceeded to enquire why I was driving at such a low speed. Having discussed this and pointed out that the minimum speed limit was apparently 30mph, he then announced that he liked the look of my private number plate and wished that he had it.”
Anthony recalls: “I replied that it would only be of use to anyone with the name HEYES, to which he replied ‘that’s okay because my name is Heyes…Tony Heyes’, and sure enough he produced his warrant card.”
Anthony concludes: “I bet there are not too many people who get stopped for going too slow on the motorway by a policeman with exactly the same name, whilst in a car with the same name, albeit H6YES on the number plate.”