It has come to light that 5% of cars on the road today could have number plates that aren’t picked up by the ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras. This advanced system of cameras can recognise a number plate so it can be traced back to the owner, and is a vital tool for aiding the police in solving crimes. These ‘invisible’ plates were made by one of the main number plate manufacturing companies in the UK. When they found out that their new method of production made the plates unreadable by the ANPR cameras, they stopped making them that way, but over a million plates had already left the factory. It is thought that other factories may also be making plates that are not recognised by the ANPR cameras.

If you’re one of the 1.4 million people with one of these plates then you may avoid a speeding ticket, but the worrying fact is, that criminals may get away with their crimes if their cars can’t be traced. From a person driving without insurance, to a hit and run driver that kills someone, crimes are often solved, and criminals brought to justice with the help of the ANPR system. It’s a rather worrying thought.

Photo credit: kenjonbro / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

Adding your own personality to the look of your car with spoilers, decals and other accessories is nothing new. Anyone of a certain age will never forget the ‘furry dice’ craze. These days there are so many more ways to dress up your car to reflect your own persona and inject a little humour. Love them or hate them, car costumes are big business as more people choose to jazz up their cars for special occasions, or simply for the fun of it.

Car eye lashes are one of the newest crazes, attached above the headlights, you can turn your boring old car into an instant beautiful lady, well sort of. From plain black to pink with crystals, you’ll even a choice of which eyelashes to give your car!

You’ve probably seen cars with a pair of flags on, usually added to show support for a big football match. You’ll also have seen the red noses that attach to the front of the car for Red Nose Day. Now there’s another new craze hitting the streets, using these two types of accessories to create a whole costume for your car. Swap the football flags for rabbit ears, change the red nose for a pink one, and there you have it, an instant Easter bunny outfit for your car! Of course there are plenty of other variations available too, so whatever you’re celebrating, there’s no reason why your car should be left out of the fun!

Photo credit: bfishadow / Foter.com / CC BY

From 1st January 1904 all vehicles within the UK had to be registered with their local council, the registered keeper of the vehicle was then issued with an exclusive registration number free of charge relating to the local counties individual issue – the first issued registrations consisted of one letter and one number, eg the borough of London began issuing A 1, then A 2, then A 3 and so on. Such numbers would now be considered very exclusive and their value unlimited, A 1 could reach a market value of one million pounds if it’s whereabouts were known today.

When a vehicle was registered the keeper was issued with a ‘log book’ stating the registration number, make, model, chassis number, engine number, date of first registration, fuel type and of course the owner’s name and address this information is exclusive for each vehicle so no two vehicles had the same details. If an incident occurred local authorities were able to trace the owner of a vehicle by the registration number attached to the vehicle.

After 1st January 1904 every vehicle had to display the registration number issued by their local council in form of a set of number plates attached to the front and rear of the vehicle, originally the plates were metal and had silver embossed print on a black background. These metal plates can still be used today but only on vehicles registered prior to 1st January 1973, there are only a limited number of expert companies still manufacturing this style of plates.

Anyone wishing to obtain any number plates must provide the manufacturer with the V5C (vehicle registration certificate) for their vehicle showing the document reference number, this number is exclusive to their record held by DVLA. All modern issue plates must conform to the British Standard BS AU 145 D, regarding visability, strength and reflectivity.

Nowadays registrations are a status symbol not just for policing issues, people recognise your vehicle in a crowd by your distinctive plates. Many people choose to buy personalised number plates so that they are even more exclusively known by their vehicle. If you would like to buy a registration number or simply require a new set of plates you can view various combinations on www.speedyreg.co.uk or call their friendly staff on 028 6638 7124 who will be more than happy to help you.

The Canadian actor famous for The Matrix and Bill, Speed and Ted’s excellent adventure is celebrating his birthday today! The 48 year old will hopefully be celebrating with a smile on his face and not with his trademark ‘Keanu Sad face’.

We hope this Personalised number plate puts a smile on your face!

It’s the all singing all tap dancing lady of the night loving Mr Richard Gere’s birthday today! The 63 year old, (we couldn’t believe it either) will be celebrate being one year older but still a silver fox that can make many a woman swoon!

To celebrate Mr Gere’s 63rd we will be breaking out our tap shoes and the soundtrack of Chicago… and our present to him? A Cherished Number Plate for the Silver Fox himself.

When a customer phones into us their top request is a number plate that resembles their name or has their initials.

Self identification and pride in your name is something I’m sure we can all relate with, even if when you where younger and hated your name and wanted to be called Batman or Princess Jasmine.

As with everything in our world names can go in and out of fashion, and new parents always want to stay ahead of the trend, especially when it comes to celebrity parents who like to grace their children with such names as: Pilot Inspektor, Apple and Sage Moonblood….

However our tastes seem to be rather simpler than theirs and the most popular names from 2011 have recently been released showing that traditional names seem to be on a comeback.

Harry and Amelia were the most popular first names given to babies born in England and Wales in 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics, now this may be because of Little Mix and One Directions XFactor fame, but at least you’re not naming your child after a fruit!

Other popular names to arise where, George, Jacob and Ava, all lovely names that we think would look twice as good on a number plate. We look forward to selling a fleet of Harry and Amelia personalised number plates in the future, when they want to show pride in their name.

The Jewel in Scotland’s crown Sir Sean Connery will be celebrating his 82nd Birthday today. At 82 it’s safe to say there will be very little bond action moves being done by the previous 007 star, but we have found Mr Connery the perfect personalised plate to go on his Bond car. Enjoy your birthday sir Connery

Birthday Girl Kristen is probably best known for her work on sketch comedy Saturday night live, however the comedy star and writer has brought us many of our favourite comedies including Bridesmaids! Which here in the office we all love. So to say thank you from all of us at Speedy Registrations we have come up with your perfect cherished number plate! What better way to celebrate in style?

The National Registry began distributing new license plates to drivers across the country in Costa Rica, just over two weeks ago. Due to Costa Rica’s high number of cars on the road, the registry has begun a program to issue Car Number Plates with both letters and numbers.

The new car Number Plateswill have new Security features, such as the Costa Rican flag, a hologram and a sticker on the vehicle’s windshield. These new features are to make it difficult for criminals to clone existing problems, which we in the UK can relate to.

The new Car Number Plates will start to include both numbers and letters, which can be either randomly assigned by a computer or chosen by the vehicle owner. Owners of older vehicles can also apply for the new Car Number Plates if they wish.

The National Registry is currently building facilities to produce the license plates. By using automated equipment specially made in Germany for Costa Rican license plates.  The new Equipment will have the ability to produce 600 metallic plates every hour.

Is this the beginning of Personalised Number Plates market in Costa Rica?

Number plates in the UK are divided up into two separate groups, Dateless Northern Irish Registrations and Dated Current Style Registrations.

Dateless Irish Number Plates begin with one of the following letters depending on which county the vehicle is first registered. The current issue registrations are:

Armagh: CXZ

Ballymena: DRZ

Belfast: IFZ

Coleraine: RNZ

Downpatrick: TJZ

Enniskillen: KIG

Londonderry: TUI

Omagh: OHZ

Dated Current Registrations all begin with two letters, which indicate the town the vehicle was registered at first, followed by the year letter and then three letters:

AA-AN – Peterborough

AO-AU – Norwich

AV-AY – Ipswich

AY – Alderney

BA-BY – Birmingham

CA-CO – Cardiff

CP-CV – Swansea

CW-CY – Bangor

DA-DK – Chester

DL-DY – Shrewsbury

EA-EY – Chelmsford

FA-FP – Nottingham

FR-FY – Lincoln

GA-GO – Maidstone

GP-GY – Brighton

HA-HJ – Bournemouth

HK-HV – Portsmouth

HW – Isle of Wight

HX-HY – Portsmouth

KA-KL – Luton

KM-KY – Northampton

LA-LJ – London (Wimbledon)

LK-LT – London (Stanmore)

LU-LY – London (Sidcup)

MA-MM – Manchester

MN – Isle of Man

MO-MY – Manchester

NA-NO – Newcastle

NP-NY – Stockton

OA-OY – Oxford

PA-PT – Preston

PU-PY – Carlisle

RA-RY – Reading

SA-SJ – Glasgow

SK-SO – Edinburgh

SP-ST – Dundee

SU-SW – Aberdeen

SX-SY – Inverness

VA-VY – Worcester

WA-WJ – Exeter

WK-WL – Truro

WM-WY – Bristol

YA-YK – Leeds

YL-YU – Sheffield

YV-YY – Beverley

The first two numbers in the Centre define the age of the Car (month/Year)

So the next time you are looking number plates in the UK you will be able to identify where the vehicle is from and how old the vehicle is!