DVLA Number Plates

A Brief On DVLA Number Plates

DVLA number plates provide a unique identification for each vehicle licensed to ply on roads in the United Kingdom.

What Does DVLA Stand For?

DVLA is an acronym for Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. DVLA is the United Kingdom organization responsible for maintaining a data base of drivers and vehicles in Great Britain. The agency collects vehicle excise duty, issues driving licenses and sells private number plates. DVLA number plates refer to the vehicle registration plates of the United Kingdom. The rules and regulations pertaining to DVLA number plates have recently become stricter to combat theft and other crimes.

What Is The Function Of DVLA Number Plates?

A DVLA number plate is a plastic or metallic plate attached to a vehicle to provide unique identification. Every country in the world has its own system of displaying number plates.

The Current System Of DVLA Number Plates

The current system has a registration index consisting of seven characters and is used for all vehicles that are getting registered from 2001 onwards. The features of the characters from left to right are:

  • A two letter area code; the first letter pertaining to the region and the second to the local registration office.
  • A two digit (numeric) age identifier. This is generally the last two digits of the year of registration, for example, "06" for 2006.
  • A random three letter sequence for unique identification.

However, vehicles registered under earlier numbering systems are allowed to retain their old number plates.

The rules governing number plates of the British forces, diplomatic personnel and reigning monarch differ from the regular number plates.

  • British Forces Number Plate
  • British forces number plates are have a white background and contain letters in the black colour in the two numbers two letters two numbers format. Private vehicles driven by British force personnel are issued the regular DVLA number plates.
  • Diplomatic number plates
  • Vehicles belonging to foreign embassies, consular staff and various international organizations are given vehicle number with a distinguishing format of three numbers, one letter and three numbers. The letter is D diplomatic staff and X for accredited non – diplomatic staff.
  • Number plates of the state vehicles used by the reigning monarch
  • The vehicles used by the reigning monarch on official business do not carry any registration number plates. The private vehicles of the monarch and the members of the royal family are provided plates with index numbers.

Prevention Of Theft Of DVLA Number Plates

Criminals imitate genuine number plates to commit theft and other crime. To combat theft of DVLA number plates, the UK government has taken the following action:

  • Buyers are required to produce personal identification and vehicle registration documents when buying replacement plates.
  • Tamper resistant plates, which cannot be removed from a vehicle without getting destroyed, have been introduced.

New Advances

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) is a system of mass surveillance that uses optical character recognition on images to read license plates. This system is extensively used by police for toll collection or pay-per-use roads. Systems use infra red lighting to allow cameras to take pictures even during night time.

The electronic age will continue to see new advances that would make DVLA number plates more dependable and pilfer proof.

© 2008 Number Plates.