On the former formation of UK number plates, what letters were not assigned for use on registration plates? For example, A123 BCD was a viable plate.

Baloo55th

Basically, anything that could cause offence. Sets like GOD, JEW, SEX and some I won't list were never issued. Funnily enough, PEE was issued, and I've seen it on a Water Company van! I've never found out if PAK 1 was issued, which it might have been, dating from before the use of Paki as an offensive remark. The two letter combination was originally issued to Dorset in the early 1900s, but was replaced by FX. It later was reissued in the three letter series as BBF, CBF, etc for Staffordshire, which had run out. FU 2 was issued, once again predating this becoming an offensive statement. Paul Raymond had it at one time (he would!) and lived for the day when he'd be asked the number of his vehicle by a policeman who hadn't noticed.... A set of numbers was stopped, too. In the last years of the old seven character system (A123BCD type) the number 666 was banned. Not so much because of its supposedly diabnolic connection, but because some research found that a higher proportion of vehicles with that number were involved in accidents than any other particular number. Some people have more time on their hands than they know what to do with.... Oct 13 06, 4:01 PM

peasypod

Currently, the letters I and Q are excluded from the three-letter combinations. Between 1932-1963, the letters I, Q, and Z were not used. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_car_number_plates Oct 13 06, 4:42 PM

Flynn_17

I meant as the first letter. For example Q was used to denote cars that had been made by their own drivers. Oct 15 06, 10:57 AM

Baloo55th

No, Q was for anything whose actual age couldn't be determined accurately, some rebuilds, certain ex-military vehicles, and certain kit-cars. Whether you got a Q or a normal registration is rather indeterminate. Now, they're issuing new old registrations for all those Pajeros and so on imported secondhand from Japan. Q registrations are becoming quite rare. Otherwise, O and I were not used, as Peasy says, for obvious reasons. And Z because it was used in Ireland. Though why that should stop it being used as a year letter in the UK is beyond me. Also, U wasn't used supposedly to avoid confusion with V, but the Isle of Man has used it in their A123 MAN and CMN etc series. There, it's not a year letter. Manx registrations are a world of their own... Oct 15 06, 11:25 AM

helenasykes

I thought Z wasn't used because it looked too much like a number 2? Speaking of '666' has reminded me of a family friend, called John Smith lived at number 999 Manchester Road. Needless to say he had a job convincing the police he was who he claimed to be when they stopped him (he had a brake light out). Oct 15 06, 4:35 PM

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Which country was the first to introduce vehicle registration plates? Do the numbers and letters on a US vehicle licence plate mean anything in particular or are they just randomly selected to distinguish each vehicle? (For example, here in Ireland the first 2 digits give the year of registration, the letter or letters give the county of registration and the final numbers are random) When J. Smith transcribed the Book of Mormon he used a number of golden plates. What supposedly happened to these plates? How do the arrangements of numbers and letters on regular license plates (not the personalized kind) come to be?

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