way is the licence plate different colour on the back and front (UK)?

Question

i mean on is white one is yellow.

is there a legal reason for them being like that or is it just fashion or something

Answer 1

Rear is reflective, front is not.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I don't know why it is but I do know that the law says that the front must be white and the back yellow. There are also strict legal restrictions on the size and fonts of the letters

Answer 4

Why is this in "celebrities"? Did you think a member of the royal family would answer?

Answer 5

if u take a quick glance at the number plate u know what way its going

Answer 6

2

Answer 7

I think that it is legal and it has something to do with lights reflecting of it and visibilty.

Answer 8

why is it in this section ?

Answer 9

Not all cars have different coloured number plates back and front. Ours is Yellow both ends. I believe number plates prior to 1972 were either Black on White or White on Black letters and Numbers. It may be due to people having had white ones and losing a back plate and then replacing with the new type of yellow ones.


Current plates have black characters on reflective white PVC (for the front plate) or on reflective yellow PVC (for the rear plate). These are the colours used in the common EU plate format (though not all other EU states use the two background colours in this same way).

Older plates had white, grey or silver characters on a black background. This style of plate was phased out in 1972, and is now legal to be carried only on vehicles built prior to 1 January 1973.

Front number plates are 520 mm x 111 mm (20.5" x 4 3/8") in size. Rear plates may be 520 mm x 111 mm (Standard), 285 mm x 203 mm (Square),[citation needed] 533 mm x 152 mm (large).

Motorcycles formerly had a double-sided number plate on top of the front mudguard, curved to follow the contour of the wheel and visible from the sides. The requirement for the front number plate was dropped in 1975 because of the severe danger these presented to pedestrians in the event of a collision.



Current system
The current system for Great Britain was introduced in 2001. Each registration consists of seven characters. From left to right the characters consist of:

An area code (the local memory tag) consisting of two letters, the first relating to the region, the second the local registration office (see British car number plate identifiers);
A two-digit age identifier, which changes twice a year, in March and September. The code is either the last two digits of the year itself (e.g. "05" for 2005) or else has 50 added (e.g. 55 for September 2005) if issued from September to February of the following year;
An arbitrary three-letter sequence with no specific meaning beyond that of uniquely distinguishing each of the vehicles displaying the same initial four-character area and age sequence. The letters I and Q are excluded from the three-letter sequence, as are combinations that may appear offensive (including those in foreign languages).
In 2007 the DVLA exceptionally issued 'TN07' prefixed registrations for some Edinburgh registered vehicles, instead of the expected 'SN07'. This was stated to be because of potential offence caused by interpreting 'SN07' as 'SNOT'. This is the first known use of the 'T' code as the first letter, as it was not allocated to a region in the 2001 system. Yet, TF07 registrations have been showing up around Scotland, most commonly in Glasgow. This has arisen some confusion as to why TF07 registrations are being used. Even more recently, it has been spotted that TP07 registration number plates are being issued as well.

With this scheme, a buyer can tell the year of a car without having to look it up, and the preceding area code letters are usually remembered by witnesses — it is then quite simple to narrow down suspect vehicles to a much smaller number by checking the authority's database without having to know the full number. This scheme should have sufficient numbers to run until 2050.

When introduced, the new plates included a subtly re-drawn version of Charles Wright's original 1935 font, that has been narrowed (condensed) from 57 mm to 50 mm to allow space for the extra letter and the blue 'GB' euro surround that is now an option on plates. Similar in many ways but perhaps less drastic than Germany's FE-Schrift number-plate font (2001), it accentuates the differences in the form of similar characters like '8' and 'B' or 'D' and '0' with block serifs to improve the legibility of a plate from a distance - especially for the OCR (optical character recognition) software of speed cameras and CCTV. This accentuation also discourages the tampering that is sometimes practised with the use of black insulating tape or paint to change letterforms (P to R, 9 to 8 for example) or with the inclusion of carefully positioned black 'fixing screw' dots that alter the appearance of letters on some vanity plates.

The option of the EU stars and the country identifier letters ´GB´ is claimed to be a registered design - number 2053070 - registered at the UK Patent Office in 1995 by David and Nansi Mottram [1]. However, the blue strip with European flag and country identifier was introduced by Ireland in 1991, before the Mottrams registered their version.

Registrations having a combination of characters that are particularly appealing (resembling a name, for example) are auctioned each year.

Vehicles registered under previous numbering systems continue to retain their original registration plates. Subject to certain conditions, registration plates can be transferred between vehicles by the vehicle owner; some of these transfers involve tens of thousands of British Pounds (GBP) changing hands, due to the desirability of a specific number.


History Before 1932
The first series of number plates were issued in 1903 and ran until 1932, using the series A1–YY9999. The letter or pair of letters indicated the local authority in whose area the vehicle was registered, for example A — London, B — Lancashire, C — West Riding of Yorkshire, etc. In England and Wales the letter codes were initially allocated in order of population size (by the 1901 census), whilst Scotland and Ireland had special sequences incorporating the letters "S" and "I" respectively, which were allocated alphabetically: IA = Antrim, IB = Armagh, etc. When a licensing authority reached 9999, it was allocated another two letter mark, but there was no pattern to these subsequent allocations as they were allocated on a first come first served basis.


1932 to 1963
By 1932, the available numbers within this scheme were running out, and an extended scheme was introduced. This scheme consisted of three letters and three numbers, taken from the series AAA1 to YYY999. Note that certain letters — I, Q and Z — were never used, as they were considered too easy to mistake for other letters or numbers, or were reserved for special use, such as the use of I and Z for Irish registrations. (After independence, the Irish Republic continued to use this scheme until 1986, and Northern Ireland still uses it.)

The three-letter scheme preserved the area letter codes as the second pair of letters in the set of three, and the single letter area codes were deleted (since prefixing a single letter code would create a duplicate of a two-letter code). In some areas, the available numbers with this scheme started to run out in the 1950s, and in those areas, a reversed sequence was introduced, i.e. 1AAA–999YYY. The ever-increasing popularity of the car can be gauged by noting that these sequences ran out within ten years, and by the beginning of the 1960s, a further change was made in very popular areas, introducing 4-number sequences with the one and two letter area codes, but in the reverse direction to the early scheme (i.e. 1A –9999YY).


1960s to 1982
In 1963, numbers were running out once again, and an attempt was made to create a national scheme to alleviate the problem. The three letter, up to three number system was kept, but a letter suffix was added, which changed every year. In this scheme, numbers were drawn from the range AAA1A–YYY999A for the first year, then AAA1B–YYY999B for the second year, and so on. Some areas did not adopt the year letter for the first two years, sticking to their own schemes, but in 1965 adding the year letter was made compulsory.

As well as yielding many more available numbers, it was a handy way for car buyers to know the age of the vehicle immediately. At first the year letter changed on January 1 every year, but car retailers started to notice that car buyers would tend to wait towards the end of the year for the new letter to be issued, so that they could get a "newer" car. This led to major peaks and troughs in sales over the year, and to help flatten this out somewhat the industry lobbied to get the month of registration changed from January to August. This was done in 1967, a year that had two letter changes: "E" came in January, and "F" came in August. The final August change was in 1998.


1983 to 2001
By 1982, the year suffixes had reached Y and so from 1983 onwards the sequence was reversed again, so that the year letter — starting again at "A" — preceded the numbers then the letters of the registration. The available range was then A1AAA–Y999YYY. Towards the mid-1990s there was some discussion about introducing a unified scheme for Europe, which would also incorporate the country code of origin of the vehicle, but after much debate such a scheme was not adopted due to lack of countries willing to participate. The changes in 1983 also brought the letter Q into use. It was used on vehicles of indeterminate age, such as those assembled from kits, substantial rebuilds, or imported vehicles where the documentation is insufficient to determine the age. It was seen as an aid to consumer protection.

By the late 1990s, the range of available numbers was once again starting to run out, exacerbated by a move to biannual changes in registration letters (March and September) in 1999 to smooth out the bulge in registrations every August, so a new scheme needed to be adopted. Rather than stick with a variation of the ad-hoc numbering that had existed for nearly a century, it was decided to research a system that would be easier for crash or car crime witnesses to remember and clearer to read, yet still fit within a normal standard plate size.


Year letters

Suffix series
Letter Dates of issue
A January 1963 – December 1963
B January 1964 – December 1964
C January 1965 – December 1965
D January 1966 – December 1966
E January 1967 – July 1967
F August 1967 – July 1968
G August 1968 – July 1969
H August 1969 – July 1970
J August 1970 – July 1971
K August 1971 – July 1972
L August 1972 – July 1973
M August 1973 – July 1974
N August 1974 – July 1975
P August 1975 – July 1976
R August 1976 – July 1977
S August 1977 – July 1978
T August 1978 – July 1979
V August 1979 – July 1980
W August 1980 – July 1981
X August 1981 – July 1982
Y August 1982 – July 1983


Prefix series
Letter Dates of issue
A August 1983 – July 1984
B August 1984 – July 1985
C August 1985 – July 1986
D August 1986 – July 1987
E August 1987 – July 1988
F August 1988 – July 1989
G August 1989 – July 1990
H August 1990 – July 1991
J August 1991 – July 1992
K August 1992 – July 1993
L August 1993 – July 1994
M August 1994 – July 1995
N August 1995 – July 1996
P August 1996 – July 1997
R August 1997 – July 1998
S August 1998 – February 1999
T March 1999 – August 1999
V September 1999 – February 2000
W March 2000 – August 2000
X September 2000 – February 2001
Y March 2001 – August 2001


New series post-2001
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

Local
Memory
Tag
DVLA office
Local Identifier

A 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 A - Y
C 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 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 Chelmsford A - Y
F Nottingham A B C D E F G H J K L M N P
Lincoln R S T V W X Y
G 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 Bournemouth A B C D E F G H J
Portsmouth K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y
HW Reserved for the Isle of Wight
K 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 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 A - Y
N 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 A - Y
P 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 A - Y
S 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 special issue 2007: TN07... (Edinburgh)
TF07 (Glasgow)
V Worcester A - Y
W 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 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


Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland current registrations plates take the form "ABC 1000", where "BC" represents the county or city and "A" denotes the position in the series. The numbering begins at 1 and ends at 9999. After 9999, the next letter in alphabetical order is used at position "A" and the numbering series begins with 1000 once again. For example, in 2005 County Antrim is using the series "KZ", having already completed "IA" and "DZ". After "KZ" is exhausted, it will use "RZ". The full list of county codes appears below.

The county letters without the series position identifier were used previously on their own, in the same order that they are now being used. After all these registrations had been issued, the extra letter was added to increase capacity. Numbers below 1000 are now not issued to the public in the normal way but instead held back by DVLNI and supplied at a premium as vanity plates.

This system was also used in the Republic of Ireland until 1987 as part of an original British all-Ireland system. It was similar to an older system used in Great Britain, but the use of the letters I and Z is unique to Ireland. In this system, two-letter county codes existed for all counties or administrative areas in Ireland, but are now used only in Northern Ireland. (See also: Irish Vehicle Registration Plates)

The DVA are considering adopting the system used in the rest of the UK[citation needed], using I as the first letter (no confusion could be made with 1 as it would be followed by another letter).

Northern Ireland licence plates are used often in Great Britain as vanity plates to cheaply hide the age of an older vehicle.

The County Fermanagh registrations KIL, CIG and NIG were deemed inappropriate and will never be issued.

The European Union standard for number plates causes some degree of resentment in Northern Ireland as the internationally recognised number-plate code for all of the United Kingdom is 'GB' for Great Britain, which can appear to exclude Northern Ireland. For political reasons, some people may choose to use an 'IRL' version, e.g. |IRL| ACZ 0000|, although this is incorrect in terms of the European numbering system and is illegal according to UK number plate regulations. There are Northern Ireland registration plates which, quite unofficially, use the EU style blue strip on the left hand side with no country code written; i.e. the blue strip just shows the European stars. Another unofficial code is "NI".

Proposals were made to change the code to UK, but this came to nothing.


County codes
AZ — Belfast
BZ — Down
CZ — Belfast
DZ — Antrim
EZ — Belfast
FZ — Belfast
GZ — Belfast
HZ — Tyrone
IA — Antrim
IB — Armagh
IG — Fermanagh
IJ — Down
IL — Fermanagh
IW — Londonderry
JI — Tyrone
JZ — Down
KZ — Antrim
LZ — Armagh
MZ — Belfast
NZ — Londonderry
OI — Belfast
OZ — Belfast
PZ — Belfast
RZ — Antrim
SZ — Down
TZ — Belfast
UI — Derry City
UZ — Belfast
VZ — Tyrone
WZ — Belfast
XI — Belfast
XZ — Armagh
YZ — Londonderry
QNI — Re-registration within Northern Ireland



Crown Dependencies
The Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have number plates that differ from those used in the UK.


Jersey

A tractor in Jersey carrying its J-plateJersey number plates consist of the letter 'J' followed by one to six digits, with hire cars originally having a letter 'H' in white on a red background. Plates now incorporate the coat of arms of Jersey. Low digit value number plates are considered more desirable — number plates 'J1' and 'J2' are carried by government official vehicles.

A standard Jersey plate

J67543

A hire Jersey plate

H J12345

Vanity plates are also auctioned, having the format 'JSY' followed by one to three digits.


Guernsey
Guernsey plates consist of up to five digits, sometimes in white on a black background, and sometimes with a circle containing the letters 'GBG', the island's international vehicle registration. Plates with lower numbers are of a high value. The plates 1 to 9 are the most valuable.

A Guernsey plate

12345

Guernsey hire cars sport a black 'H' on a yellow background on a separate plate, much like the 'L plate' required by learners. Locals consider this to stand for "Horror", as foreign drivers often lack understanding of road features such as 'filter in turn' sections common to Guernsey roads.


Alderney
In Alderney, a dependency of Guernsey, separate registrations are issued always with the prefix 'AY' followed by a space and then digits.

An Alderney plate

AY 123


Sark
Sark bans cars on its roads, so no number plates exist.

Isle of Man

Manx (not part of the UK) car registration plateWhen vehicle registration began in the Isle of Man in 1906, registration plates started with the letters 'MN' followed by up to four digits. In 1935, the prefix 'MAN' came into use, followed by up to three digits, and the following year a further scheme was introduced allowing three letters (BMN through YMN) to be used in addition to up to three digits. In 1959, the scheme changed to allow the digits to precede the letters. Currently a trailing letter is added to new registrations, as illustrated below. There is no indicator of vehicle age in the Manx registration plate as each can be transferred from vehicle to vehicle.

Plates now incorporate the Manx flag, bearing the triskelion symbol. The typeface now used on Manx number plates is similar to that used in the Republic of Ireland.

A Manx plate (without the words Isle of Man at the top)


GBM
DMN-123-A


Other formats

Overseas Territories
Some of the UK's overseas territories, including Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, use similar number plates to the UK, with the same colours and typeface.

Until 2002 Gibraltar number plates consisted of the letter 'G' and five digits, but this changed to 'G' followed by four digits and a letter. The European flag is also now featured, along with the international vehicle registration GBZ. Military vehicles have the letters 'RN'.

In the Falklands, the format is 'F' followed by four digits and a letter.

Bermuda number plates issued to general passenger cars are five black digits on a plain white background, similarly-sized to UK plates. Vanity plates, however, have recently become available that allow motorists to choose any seven-letter phrase, overlaid on a map of the island with "Bermuda" printed across the top, on a plate of identical dimensions to plates from the United States.

Anguilla has an 'A' followed by 4 digits, with a 'G' on the end for a government vehicle, a 'H' for a hire vehicle/taxi and an 'R' for a rental vehicle.

A 1234

In the British Virgin Islands Private Vehicles have 'PV' followed by four digits. Commercial vehicles have 'CM' followed by four digits.

PV 1234

Cayman Islands simply have 6 numbers on them, separated into groups of 3.

123 456

Saint Helena islands just have 3 digits on them, with government vehicles having a prefix of 'SHG.'

123

British Forces plates
British forces number plates are white on black, in either the older two numbers, two letters, two numbers format, or the more recent two letters, two numbers, two letters format, with the lettering arranged in three rows. In West Germany, private cars owned by members of HM Forces and their families also used plates with the same format, distinct from those used in the UK. This was discontinued in 1988 for security reasons, as it made them vulnerable to IRA attacks. Private cars driven by British military personnel are now issued with either standard UK number plates (if right hand drive) or German ones (if left hand drive).


Diplomatic plates
Since 1979 cars operated by foreign embassies, consular staff, and various international organisations have been given plates with a distinguishing format of three numbers, one letter, three numbers. The letter is D for diplomats or X for accredited non-diplomatic staff. The first group of three numbers identifies the country or organisation to whom the plate has been issued, the second group of three numbers is a serial number, starting at 101 for diplomats (although some embassies were erroneously issued 100), 400 for non-diplomatic staff of international organisations, and 700 for consular staff. Thus, for example, 101 D 101 identifies the first plate allocated to the Afghanistan embassy, 900 X 400 is the first plate allocated to the Commonwealth Secretariat. See List of country codes on British diplomatic car number plates.


Personalised plates
It is still legal to use any of the above schemes for vanity plates – any registration with 2-3 consecutive valid letters and a number 1-999 (and possibly another letter) is allowed. As many cars registered before 1963 have been destroyed, these "dateless" plates are usually highly sought-after and valuable, since they can be used to "hide" the age of an older vehicle. However, some consider it a great pity that many classic cars now lose their original plates due to the owners cashing in on the high premiums paid for highly desirable registrations. The DVLA cherished transfer scheme allows owners to display a registration number more appropriate to a specialty or collector vehicle and there are also a large number of private dealers who not only act as agents for DVLA issues, but hold their own private stock of dateless registrations and other cherished numbers. The DVLA however can only offer for sale registrations that have never previously been issued. There are still thousands of combinations available though and prices start from £250. One may not use a registration to make one's vehicle appear younger or newer than it actually is. Whilst the DVLA can not re-issue registrations, there are plenty of interesting combinations available on the second hand market. As popularity grows, the prices reached for the most expensive numbers are always increasing. "M 1" sold at auction in Goodwood on 7 June 2006 for £330,000. This is currently the world record price achieved for a personal plate. The previous record was £285,000 for "VIP 1": rumoured to have been bought by Roman Abramovich, it was originally an Irish number, formerly on a car once used by Pope John Paul II when visiting Dublin.[1][2].


State vehicles used by the reigning monarch
Uniquely, the Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars used by the reigning monarch on official business do not carry number plates. The official car of the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland also does not carry number plates (but only for the duration of the week-long General Assembly). The monarch's private vehicles, and cars driven by other members of the royal family, all carry number plates.