THE DVLA has revealed the full list of banned number plates for 2024, with over 300 deemed “too rude” for the road.
With March 1 marking “new reg” day, where the agency issues the new plates for the coming year, the list prevents British motors from accidentally displaying risque content.
Each year, DVLA updates the identification numbers on number plates to reflect the current year.
UK number plates consist of a two-letter “memory tag”, a two-digit ID number and then three random letters or numbers.
The memory tag shows where the car was first registered.
For example, registrations beginning with the letter L are from London, while B plates are from Birmingham.
Then the ID tag refers to the year of registration.
These are updated twice a year, once in March and once in September.
This system has been used since 2001, with older cars having a different system.
In this case, this means motors coming onto the market this year will see the third and fourth digits of their plate reading ’24’ rather than ’23’.
However, this obviously presents hundreds of new opportunities for jokers to play around with their numbers, or even for innocent manufacturers to accidentally end up with racy registrations on their products.
And it’s not just rude words that have to be taken out of circulation, though these are the most common.
References to controversial politics, wars or any kind of discriminatory language need to be picked up by the agency’s specialists.
The team meets twice a year at DVLA HQ in Swansea, Wales, to comb through the upcoming options and give anything dodgy the axe.
They look out for any plates that “may cause offence, embarrassment or are in poor taste”, obviously quite a broad category.
The agency also reserves the right to pull any registrations from circulation at a later date if they are missed.
This year in particular has been a challenge, with the 4 in 24 resembling the letter A, opening up a world of possibilities for those looking to sneak an inappropriate plate through.
For example, numbers including ’24 NUS’ and ‘W24 NKR’ have been cut given their proximity to some unsavoury language.
The same will have to be done again in September when the equally problematic 74 tag comes into circulation (as the September registrations use an ID tag of the current year plus 50).
While the bans won’t impact the average driver too much, private plate buyers must keep a close eye on the list.
Plate trading is big business, with single registrations fetching thousands at auction.
Indeed, one Brit bought a personalised plate for just £120, only to see it kickstart a career that has made him a millionaire.
And the plate used by an iconic Bond villain went up for sale in November last year for £300,000.
