DVLA ‘WON’T CHANGE’ JAG’S NUMBER

…but clubs expert says that all is not lost

An expert on car registrations who campaigns on behalf of classic owners has said that it’s unlikely that the DVLA will issue a period-correct registration for a CCW reader’s restored Jaguar.

Paul Shields, from Scarborough, has been asking the vehicle registration agency to issue his Mk2 3.8 with a six-digit number – but has been rebuffed despite more than two years of requests.

The white Jaguar, originally a US market car, was repatriated in 1990 by a previous owner, but the DVLA issued it at the time with an A-suffix registration, rather than a six-digit number, despite Mr Shields having proof that it was manufactured in January 1962, more than a year before A-suffix plates were rolled out. The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs raised the case during a discussion on current DVLA policy at Club Expo on 22 January, but said that it would not issue a new number because the DVLA’S policy is to maintain registrations issued correctly in previous years.

The Federation’s DVLA manager, Ian Edmunds, said: ‘The only thing he can do, unfortunately, is to buy a plate. When the DVLA started issuing what we now call age-related plates, anything first registered between January 1956 and December 1963, which includes this Jaguar, received an A-suffix plate regardless.

‘The DVLA’S standard policy is that if the vehicle was correctly registered by the procedures at the time, they will not now change it, so as far as it’s concerned, he is stuck with his A-suffix plate.

‘Although that number is probably described as nontransferrable, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be taken off and something else put on. While I accept that there is a cost involved, there is nothing to stop Mr Shields from buying a six-digit number on the open market and having it transferred to his Jaguar.’

❚ fbhvc.co.uk