10 January 2024 , 15:57
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If you thought the digits on a car licence plate was just a bunch of randomly selected letters and numbers, you might be in for a surprise - as they have a very specific meaning.
Many proud car owners decide to memorise their number plates, which are issued as a way to give each vehicle its own identity, allowing information to be stored. Most number plates on UK roads are using a format which was first introduced in 2001, using seven characters split into two sections - except for in Northern Ireland.
You might think that the letters and numbers are randomly selected in order to give you a unique number - but that's not entirely true. One woman was recently left 'mind blown' after discovering what these characters actually mean.
Mum-of-two Courtney Right took to TikTok to share her mind was 'blown' after realising after 24 years alive, and seven years driving, that the numbers on her licence plate means something. She wrote over the video: "POV: I've just found out a new fact at 24-years-old after driving for seven years. This has literally BLOWN my mind."
In the video, she continued: "OMG I've just learned something new this morning. I'm actually sure that nobody else knows this…so on a car number plate…I just thought the only relevance to a number plate was the number. So obviously if it's 23 then it's registered in 2023.
'I don't want children staying up late at weekends - I really need adult time'
"But no, apparently the first two letters on your number plate actually mean something, so my old car was MV, and that means that car was registered in Manchester… So you've got where the car was registered, the year it was registered and then a random three letter sequence. It's literally blown my mind…like actually mind-blown."
So in other terms, the digits signal the year the car was first put on sale, and the letters are where it was registered. For example, if if the first letter is L, it was first registered in London, while Y stands for Yorkshire, and B is Birmingham. The second letter is based on the postal area where it was registered.
When it comes to the numbers, the first two digits show when the car was first registered, but it covers a six month period. For cars that are registered between March and August, the last two digits of the year will be added, so for example 23. However, if they were registered from September to February, another 50 is added to that number. This means 73 will be on the number plate for cars registered from September 2023 to February 2024.
The last three letters don't mean anything - but are just a random collection of numbers to keep each number plate unique. The only letters not used are I and Q - so they will be a combination of the remaining 24 letters.
People were equally shocked to learn this in the comment section, with one person saying: "Been driving 13 years and I never knew this!!!," while another added: "I can't believe I've just found this out. but YX?," and Courtney replied: "Me neither! Beverley, Yorkshire it says."