Gary Critcher
Interesting number plate… spotted in Shepperton High Street this morning. I’m wondering if it was someone from Shepperton Studios.
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Pat Heigham
Probably belongs to a clapper/loader!
Alec Bray
In 1999 I worked for a Year 2000 Millennium Bug PC software checking company (I project-managed the translation of the product into Japanese, but that’s another story): After the turn of the millennium we started out doing an MP3 “JukeBox”, and the boss got a new number plate for his Range Rover: JBOXX.
He was always getting stopped by the police because of the spacing on the registration letters. Pity he didn’t get stopped for other naughty company money mismanagement things – as he owes me at least nine grand (at year 2000 values ) when the company folded …
John Howell
A red Morris or Austin 1100 used to appear in the Spur car park at TV Centre in the 1960s, registration number BMP 2A and carefully written on the bodywork just in front was “Ta-Ra-Ra.”
Geoff Fletcher
Not a number plate but related – I remember waiting for a 207 bus on Ealing Common with Dave Jorgensen one morning on our way in to TC, when we were amused to see a VW Beatle go past with a slowly revolving clockwork style wind up key sticking out of the back!
John Hays
Just to carry on the 207 story, the original route was a number 7 tram, eventually using the wonderful Feltham trams which ended their lives in South London. These were replaced by trolleybuses , route number 607, and then by bus route 207.
Dave Buckley
Many moons ago, there was a car that parked regularly in Harrow with the registration BRA 32.
About 20 years ago, I saw a car in the Elstree area, driven by a young lady, with the registration ONP 1L, which had been slightly modified to read ON P1L!
Graeme Wall
Then there was Fiona Richmond’s FU2.
John Howell
As young schoolboys in Shrewsbury my mate Peter and I were interested in car numbers and we spotted an estate car registration EUK 999 (it was on a pre-war Morris ‘woody’ estate car in 1957 in Shrewsbury) and wondered if they would issue the next in the series (they didn’t!).
Nick Ware
I often marvel at the lengths some people go to have a reg plate that means little to anyone but themselves. Round the corner from us, there’s a house with four up-market cars in the drive (why put them in the garage when you have plenty of room to put them on show?!): L 5TAK, P 5TAK, V 5TAK and Y 5TAK. I can’t help wondering if they chose the ‘initial’ to fit the kids, or named the kids to fit the plates they found!
But a goodie that passes by our house regularly is a plumber’s white van, reg: LOO 1. And he also has LOO 2, both of which must be worth a lot more than the vans!
Pat Heigham
When I purchased my ‘new’ car 8 years ago, upon retirement, I fancied a personalised number plate.
Looking for my initials on DVLA’s merchandising site, I found I could have PH as the first two letters – I was appalled that this was Preston!
My recollection of Preston was returning home after walking in the Lake District, and apart from an Indian Curry house, the only thing that sticks in my mind is waiting in the Godforsaken bus station at 2 a.m. for the coach back to London. (Ribblesdale buses, had a very strange pitching motion when belting down the M6 – M1, at least it had a loo on board!).
I finished up with PH07 PHH, initials repeated with my birthday, it confused National Tyres, as they thought it was an 07 car, and the wheel size was wrong! In fact it’s an 09 car!
I believe Cubby Broccoli managed to get CUB 1 for his Roller?
Ian Hillson
“CUB” was an old Leeds registration.
Pat Heigham
Some years ago, while staying with friends near Northampton, I took the opportunity to take a pair of Cheaney shoes back to the factory for repair.
As I exited the A14, the radio broke in with a newsflash that Bond producer Cubby Broccoli had died. The car just in front of me had the registration ‘CUB‘.
Spooky!
Alec Bray
CUB 1 was the registration for Truly Scrumptious’ car in the film of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”:
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Albert R. Brococoli (April 5, 1909 – June 27, 1996), nicknamed “Cubby”, was the producer of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” as well as being the producer of many of the Bond films.
Peter Hider
My wife bought me H10ER P for my 65th birthday, so I reciprocated and bought her H10ER J and together they look good on the drive.
I’ve been pulled over once by a policeman who had typed in my number incorrectly and was sure it was a stolen vehicle.
I believe Paul Daniels had MAGIC and Jimmy Tarbuck COMIC.
Gary Critcher, Nicholas C Moore
…I seem to remember that ‘COM 1C‘ was owned by Jimmy Tarbuck?
Dave Plowman
It moved around a lot, that number. I remember seeing it on a white Mulliner Park Ward convertible Bentley parked outside TVT. Gorgeous car.
Then later, having moved to Thames, I saw it a few times on a Metro on my journey to Teddington. Owner presumably between posh cars.
Ian Hillson
I seem to remember a newspaper story back in the 1960s that Tarby bought COM1C fairly early on and paid a lot of money for it at the time. And didn’t Paul Daniels have MAG1C (bought late on, though).
Vernon Dyer
And Jim Bowen had J 80WEN.
Years ago, a Cornish Fisheries truck used to come to Plymouth Fish Market. It was COD414T …
Graeme Wall
Coming into the Centre along the M4 I used to regularly see COM 1C, an E-type Jag, also TEA 1 and TEA 42. I also saw PEN 15 at Brands Hatch several times. I gather the latter has now been withdrawn, someone at Swansea has finally worked it out.
Peter Hider
I’m pleased PEN 15 was withdrawn. We must practice safe registrations.
David Beer
I believe PEN 15 belonged to Stuart Hall and look what happened to him!
Alasdair Lawrance
I had a feeling that Tony Blackburn had MUS 1C, but I can’t verify it. And didn’t somebody have RAD 101?
Dave Buckley
Sometime in the 1950s, my family and I were walking near BH and parked in the road was a car – RAD 10 spaced to read RAD10. We found out later that it belonged to Bob Danvers-Walker. Other variations of RAD 10x were owned by a radio manufacturer.
Other well known number plates – NAB 1, NAB 2 and NAB 3 belonged to the late MP Gerald Nabarro.
Graeme Wall
Up to about NAB 16 inclusive. Used to see some of them around Evesham when on the TO course.
Alasdair Lawrance
Nabarro was MP for South Worcestershire. His secretary at the time was Christine Hamilton, and there was a suggestion/allegation that she might have tried to take the rap for a motoring offence committed by him. All very murky.
Geoff Fletcher
Nabarro was a major supporter of the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) in its early years and his cars were often to be seen around Bridgnorth back then.
Dave Buckley
There’s a car in the Glasgow transport museum with the registration G0 – it was used by the Provost.
Dave Plowman
Way after it was issued and ‘personal’ numbers were coming into fashion, Glasgow tried to buy back G 1 for the town car. And the owner wouldn’t sell. So being the licensing authority, they issued themselves G 0.
At my age, I like having a personal plate. Saves having to try to remember a new number when changing the car.
Dave Buckley
My late uncle ran a heavy plant hire company -Selwood – based in Hampshire. During the 1950s he applied to the relevant licensing authority for the SEL 1 through SEL 20, but only got the first 10. His own car was SEL 1. Funnily enough, when I lived in Harrow, I saw 1 SEL, but wasn’t quick enough to find out if there was a connection.
It is said that where I now live in Southwest Scotland, there is the highest number of personal number plates in the country. From what I have seen on the local roads, I would agree with this. My neighbours opposite have three cars with personal plates, and another friend whose surname is Huxable, has K8 HUX.
Peter Neill
I managed to catch this just as the lights changed.
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I do remember passing BA55OON on the A1(M) once.
Mike Jordan
You can’t beat Pimlico Plumbers numbers though:
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[Ed: just a selection!]
Brian Curtis
I wonder if any of you who live in and around London have seen the Pimlico Plumbers vans? I used to work for Premier Radio which is based in Chapter Street, Pimlico, just round the corner from Pimlico Plumbers and was frequently amused by their registration plates such as:
BAS11N – S1NKX – L1 8END (spaced as “U BEND”) – LAV 5
On their website they have a range of model vans (Corgi?) which sport such registrations as W4TER – BOG 1 – DRA 1N
I know there are quite a few others which I don’t immediately recall but always raised a smile when I saw them!
There are also a number of “personalised plates” here on the Isle of Wight where I now live – seem to recall seeing T1 P UP on a tipper truck and SP04 RKS on an electrician’s van!
Pat Heigham
Ah! The Isle of Wight!
Until the DVLA changed the central locations of registration letters, the Isle of Wight (IOW) always had DL in the number.
My parents retired to the IOW, and I bought my various vehicles from IOW dealerships, so I got the DL registration. This was very useful when visiting them, as I rolled up at the
Portsmouth Car Ferry terminal on a busy Friday evening:
“Have you a reservation, sir?”
“No, I’m just trying to get home!”
They saw the IOW number, and would put me at the head of the unreserved lane!
Also, I could get the IOW residents’ concession on ferry fares (a return was the price of a day-return, but the return half was valid for a month) – as for tax and VAT purposes, I was using, then, my parents’ address (there’s another story about registering for VAT.)
Buying from the IOW dealers meant that I could get the servicing done whilst visiting my folks, and the service manager would loan me his car, usually a current demonstrator, just for a couple of gallons of fuel.
(Pat – born on the IOW.)
Alec Bray
Yesterday (22nd October2017) I followed an RAC breakdown service van round Woodley, Reading, that had registration P1 RAC.
Apparently this registration was given to the patrolperson who won Patrol of the Year.
Then a few days later, I spotted this registration on a locksmith’s van: UN10 OCK (Unlock).
Peter Hider
As you come round the bend onto Chelsea Reach from Earls Court there were two open ended garages on the left, one containing 2 BE and the other NOT 2B. They were there for years, always on the latest luxury models.
Which one to take to Tesco, that is the question!
Peter Neill
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Ian Hillson
(from the web – they are the property of theatre producer Sally Greene and her husband)
Geoff Fletcher
I well remember 2 BE and NOT 2B. Always made me smile when heading home from Chelsea FC.
John Vincent
Did Ron Green have RON 7?
Peter Leverick
I think it was RON 777.
Peter Cook
Peter Alliss poked fun at himself with the reg on his Roller: PUT 3.
John Barlow
Photo taken by Shop?
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Ian Hillson
When a certain car parked in my street, the owners wondered why I took this photo:
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Dave Buckley
My wife and I saw the attached at the Golders Green Crematorium last year. I am pretty sure that I saw RAB 11 there as well.
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Also, BRA 32 was regularly seen outside a furniture shop in Harrow during the 1960s. As a boring aside to this, the rear of the shop was used as the outside location for the office in the series “Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)”.
Chris Woolf
I’m mildly amused at the refusal of people to countenance cost of the comfort of hand-made shoes… but spend vastly more on personalised number-plates.
Dave Plowman
Bought wisely, a personal reg can be a good investment. Shoes just wear out.
I’m a casual shoe type of person. I started out working in soft soles and saw no reason to change.
Nick Ware
But there’s something fundamentally daft about a number plate that outlives the car it’s on, particularly one that means nothing to anyone but the driver of the car it’s on!
Martin Dilly
I think it may be because of something called “ego”. I believe they’re known as vanity plates. It’s a useful indication that the driver is probably more concerned with that than anything like situational awareness, and I give ’em as wide a berth as possible.
One of the companies that prey on this once contacted me offering D1LLY for some obscene price; I replied suggesting they might be interested in P155OFF.
Pat Heigham
Not ego with me. Just something nice to have (it cost only £240 by the way)
I had tried for HE16 HAM as that was the nearest similar to my surname. However, the DVLA only hold back low numbers to sell off – a money grubbing government industry. That’s why there’s a department there to go through all permutations to see what’s saleable, also weeding out the ‘rude’ ones.
I believe that in the USA, one can choose your plate, very personalised, if no-one else has it, and it’s divorced from the state that the owner/vehicle resides in. I agree in that it saves trying to remember your reg number. I can remember some of the cars that I had, but for some reason, the one that sticks in my mind was my father’s car in Singapore – a Fiat 500, which sported SC 7343 (SC was Singapore City). I think Dad shipped it back to the UK for £50 on the boat we came home in, but it had to be re-numbered for the UK – can’t remember what it became.
As a side issue, I met a passenger at Heathrow T5, and the car park entrance had number plate recognition which was printed on the parking ticket. After paying at the machine before returning to the car, the barrier opened automatically, without the ticket being inserted at the gate!
Dave Mundy
Final word, I always wanted the most unmemorable licence plate just in case I should do something naughty.
Dave Plowman
Interesting idea. The other side is that having an easily remembered plate might make some drive more carefully. Apart from Audis, obviously.
Roger Bunce
A couple of fun ones I’ve seen locally are TOM80Y and 1066 UK.
Personally, I wear sandals with socks, as an anti-fashion statement!
Nick Way
My son, Emil Way, found a plate I had to buy for him for his 21st Birthday though it’s on retention as his car is too old: EM11 WAY.
Couldn’t have organised that if I’d tried!
Roger Bunce
Couldn’t you get EM1 200I?
Ian Hillson
Methinks the “I” at the end of “EM12OOI” is not allowed – possibly still in use in Northern Ireland.
Hugh Sheppard
OK. You’ve flushed me out.
Transported to Sydney by the BBC for 7 years in the late 1980s, I took out ‘BBC TV‘ as a personal plate – and paid for it myself, but not much. However, it was transferable between cars, but not between owners when I left, and the price had since shot up, so who knows – perhaps it is still available.
It did me proud:
a) when it got me off a speeding charge in the Blue Mountains, and
b) when at a Harbour Bridge toll-booth – as there used to be – the driver of the car in front once paid for me!
Ego – trip? Surely not!
Oh, and the 1991 Subaru Liberty (aka Legacy) it graced, was donated to a young – now middle-aged – friend. Last month it passed the 250k kms mark, and is still going strong.
Peter Leverick
Back in 1999 when Brian Roberts, Trevor Marr and I build a small OB unit, we refurbished an old one acquired from Bow Tie TV. It came with the reg plate A1 OBTV. When we built the support tender for it we bought A2 OBTV for about £250.
We lost both vehicles in a tragic fire in 2010, the tender was sold by the insurance company complete with plate, the OB van was scrapped and the plate transferred to a new OB unit built by Trevor. He eventually sold it to Zest4 TV last year.
Geoff Fletcher
Spotted in Norwich 27 September 2017:
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Postscript
[Ed
The registration number of a local ambulance ….]
