Twice a year there are new number plates for vehicles once in March and once in September, but what do these numbers mean and how do you get the latest number plate?
Vehicles registered between the 1st of March and the 1st of September would get a 24’ plate and vehicles registered after the 1st of September 2024 would get a 74 reg plate.
Every standard plate adheres to the same system. The first two letters on the number plate would be where the vehicle was first registered. For example, vehicles registered in London would be from LA to LY, and vehicles registered in Yorkshire would be Y-A toY-B.
Vehicle memory tags Key:
AA-AY = Anglia (Peterborough, Norwich, Ipswich)
BA-BY = Birmingham
CA-CY = Cymru (Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor)
DA-DY = Deeside to Shrewsbury (Chester, Shrewsbury)
EA-EY = Essex (Chelmsford)
FA-FY = Forest and Fens (Lincoln, Nottingham,)
GA-GY = Garden of England (Maidstone, Brighton)
HA-HY = Hampshire and Dorset (Bournemouth, Portsmouth)
HW = Isle of Wight
KA-KY = Borehamwood and Northampton
LA-LY = London (Wimbledon, Stanmore, Sidcup)
MA-MY = Manchester and Merseyside
NA-NY = North (Newcastle, Stockton)
OA-OY = Oxford
PA-PY = Preston
RA-RY = Reading (Carlisle)
SA-SY = Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness)
VA-VY = Severn Valley (Worcester)
WA-WY = West of England (Exeter, Truro, Bristol)
YA-YB = Yorkshire (Leeds, Sheffield, Beverly)
Q and I are not used in standard number plates and Z would usually only appear as a part of the random numbers at the end.
The next two digits would be the age identifier, these would be updated every six months, once in March and once in September. Vehicles registered before March would usually be the same as the year, for example, those in 2022 would be 22 plates and vehicles in 2024 would be 24. Vehicles registered after September would be the year registered plus 50 years, so vehicles registered in 2022 would be 72 and those in 2024 would be 74. So, with 2024 plate vehicles registered between March and the end of August 2024 would get a 24 plate and vehicles registered between September and the end of August 2025 would get a 74 plate.
Vehicles registered before the 1st of March 2024 can still have 24’ plates if they choose to transfer their existing plates to a customised plate.
Upcoming and past plates:
2023 = 23 and 73 plates
2024 = 24 and 74 plates
2025 = 25 and 75 plates
2026 = 26 and 76 plates
2027 = 27 and 77 plates
2028 = 28 and 78 plates
2029 = 29 and 79 plates
The last three letters on a standard number plate would be generated randomly and allocated to a dealership when the car is registered.
