Metropol

i always thought that the new number plates came out on 1st march and 1st september.

as i was driving to work today, i saw a brand new mercedes with the number plate AP60 XXX.

didn't see any trade plates on it.

do they allocate the registrations to cars this early?

i remember that when i had money and i bought my first car which was at the time, an AT51 registration, i had to wait for the dvla to issue it.

Yes, definitely still March and September, according to DVLA.

They must issue the batches of numbers well in advance, though, so (the now few) cars to be collected on the first day can be plated up ready.

That 60 plate must be the car's registration from 1st September but somebody's being a bit naughty driving it on the road already without a trade plate.

Slightly off topic, but here in New York, newly designed license plates have been released for new vehicle registrations:


They're absoultely awful! Since only new registrations get them, right now about 40% of cars have these, and 60% have the previous ones, so it looks like a complete mess,

Here is the previous design, which I think is much better.