GB Plates Guide

The typical GB plate made after 2001 is made up of three sections. They are the area code, the year registered, and a set of three random letters. An example would be:
Great B Plate Sample

  1. The area code is a set of two letters signifying what town the car has been registered. The first letter is the actual town and the second letter represents the DVLA office inside the town. In the sample image above, the vehicle was registered in Yorkshire in the Sheffield office.
  2. The year code is a little more complicated but very simple once you get it. It took me a while finally figure it out but I now understand it and here I go trying to explain it to you. How it works is first you start out with the actual year but the last two digits. Than what is next is you either add 00 or 50 depending on what month. If it is in between March and August you add 00 and if it is in between September to February, add 50.
  3. The last bit is the simplest to figure out since there is nothing to do with it. It is actually just there random letters.

As for the EU country identifier, it is not mandatory until 2010.

2001-Present
Town Code Table
First letter Region DVLA Office Office Identifier (second letter)
A (East) Anglia Peterborough A B C D E F G H J K L M N
Norwich O P R S T U
Ipswich V W X Y
B Birmingham Birmingham A - Y
C Cymru (Wales) Cardiff A B C D E F G H J K L M N O
Swansea P R S T U V
Bangor W X Y
D Deeside to Shrewsbury Chester A B C D E F G H J K
Shrewsbury L M N O P R S T U V W X Y
E Essex Chelmsford A - Y
F Forest & Fens (East Midlands) Nottingham A B C D E F G H J K L M N P
Lincoln R S T V W X Y
G Garden of England (Kent & Sussex) Maidstone A B C D E F G H J K L M N O
Brighton P R S T U V W X Y
H Hampshire & Dorset Bournemouth A B C D E F G H J
Portsmouth K L M N O P R S T U V X Y
W (for Isle of Wight residents only)
K no meaning assigned Luton A B C D E F G H J K L
Northampton M N O P R S T U V W X Y
L London Wimbledon A B C D E F G H J
Stanmore K L M N O P R S T
Sidcup U V W X Y
M Manchester & Merseyside Manchester A B C D E F G H J K L M O P R S T U V W X Y
Isle of Man N (reserved for future use)
N North (of England) Newcastle A B C D E G H J K L M N O
Stockton P R S T U V W X Y
O Oxford Oxford A - Y
P Preston Preston A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P R S T
Carlisle U V W X Y
R Reading Reading A - Y
S Scotland Glasgow A B C D E F G H J
Edinburgh K L M N O
Dundee P R S T
Aberdeen U V W
Inverness X Y
T Scotland (additional allocation) Glasgow A B C D E F G H J
Edinburgh K L M N O
Dundee P R S T
Aberdeen U V W
Inverness X Y
V Severn Valley Worcester A - Y
W West (of England) Exeter A B C D E F G H J
Truro K L
Bristol M N O P R S T U V W X Y
Y Yorkshire Leeds A B C D E F G H J K
Sheffield L M N O P R S T U
Beverley V W X Y
Year Table
Year March September
2001 — 51
2002 02 52
2003 03 53
2004 04 54
2005 05 55
2006 06 56
2007 07 57
2008 08 58
2009 09 59
2010 10 60
2011 11 61
2012 12 62
2013 13 63
2014 14 64
2015 15 65
2016 16 66
2017 17 67
2018 18 68
2019 19 69
2020 20 70
2021 21 71
2022 22 72
2023 23 73
2024 24 74
2025 25 75
2026 26 76
2027 27 77
2028 28 78
2029 29 79
2030 30 80
2031 31 81
2032 32 82
2033 33 83
2034 34 84
2035 35 85
2036 36 86
2037 37 87
2038 38 88
2039 39 89
2040 40 90
2041 41 91
2042 42 92
2043 43 93
2044 44 94
2045 45 95
2046 46 96
2047 47 97
2048 48 98
2049 49 99
2050 50 00

1963-2001
1963-1983
Letter Dates of issue
A 1 January – 31 December 1963
B 1 January – 31 December 1964
C 1 January – 31 December 1965
D 1 January – 31 December 1966
E 1 January – 31 July 1967
F 1 August 1967 – 31 July 1968
G 1 August 1968 – 31 July 1969
H 1 August 1969 – 31 July 1970
J 1 August 1970 – 31 July 1971
K 1 August 1971 – 31 July 1972
L 1 August 1972 – 31 July 1973
M 1 August 1973 – 31 July 1974
N 1 August 1974 – 31 July 1975
P 1 August 1975 – 31 July 1976
R 1 August 1976 – 31 July 1977
S 1 August 1977 – 31 July 1978
T 1 August 1978 – 31 July 1979
V 1 August 1979 – 31 July 1980
W 1 August 1980 – 31 July 1981
X 1 August 1981 – 31 July 1982
Y 1 August 1982 – 31 July 1983
1983-2001
Letter Dates of issue
A 1 August 1983 – 31 July 1984
B 1 August 1984 – 31 July 1985
C 1 August 1985 – 31 July 1986
D 1 August 1986 – 31 July 1987
E 1 August 1987 – 31 July 1988
F 1 August 1988 – 31 July 1989
G 1 August 1989 – 31 July 1990
H 1 August 1990 – 31 July 1991
J 1 August 1991 – 31 July 1992
K 1 August 1992 – 31 July 1993
L 1 August 1993 – 31 July 1994
M 1 August 1994 – 31 July 1995
N 1 August 1995 – 31 July 1996
P 1 August 1996 – 31 July 1997
R 1 August 1997 – 31 July 1998
S 1 August 1998 – 28 February 1999
T 1 March – 31 August 1999
V 1 September 1999 – 29 February 2000
W 1 March – 31 August 2000
X 1 September 2000 – 28 February 2001
Y 1 March – 31 August 2001

Crown Dependencies

Jersey :

Jersey plates are different than normal GB plates in a few ways. Firstly, the island of Jersey is not part of the EU so it does not have the standard EU flag like other EU counties. It still has the country code, "GBJ", in a white band on the left side of the plate. This is just like normal EU plates but it has the coat of arms of Jersey instead of the EU flag.

It uses the same font as normal GB plates but both front and rear are white. The number pattern for these plates are J followed by one to six numbers.

Guernsey :

Guernsey plate can either have silver numbers on a black plate or black numbers on white on front and yellow on the back. The number pattern is just one to six numbers. It is an option to have an EU like band on the left side with the Guernsey flag and country identifier.

Alderney :

As a dependency of Guernsey, Alderney has the same numbering pattern as Guernsey except that it has AY in front of the numbers. So instead of "96568", it would have "AY96568". The last thing is that the plate coloring is silver numbers on a black plate.

Isle of Man :

Last but not least, the Isle of Man. Their plates are a lot like the standard GB plates but the county identifier band and the number pattern is different. First the number pattern. The current scheme for these plates are "XMN-123-X", where X would be a random letter. Last would be the country identifier. This band is on the left in red with the MANX flag and "GBM". Also one last thing, on the top of the plate is the country name. This is in the same typeface as the Republic of Ireland plates. This can either be "isle of man" or "Ellan Vannin".

Last modified: November 01 2010

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