UK registration mark logic
Recently, on a Northants Facebook page I saw a picture of a nurse aboard an early 1920s scooter with the Northampton registration letters BD xxxx. Northamptonshire also used the marks NV, RP, VV and NH. Northamptonshire isn’t a big county, so how are the registrations distributed? Was it at random or by the county town and various parts of the county?
Jeff Waller, email, Spain.
There was no precise set form of registration mark usage from authority to authority, as it was varied to suit population/vehicle density and other factors. Taking the example of Northampton whose form was followed by quite a few authorities, including my adopted county Cambridgeshire and its county town (city) Cambridge.
Two series of marks were running concurrently for Northamptonshire and Northampton – one series for the county and the other for the borough of Northampton. When one series was exhausted (e.g. had run from BD 1 to BD 9999) another available two-letter mark was adopted. This approach continued until 1933, when all two-letter registration mark combinations the joint authorities were prepared to issue were exhausted. Then the system of three letters and up to three digit marks was adopted. In almost all cases, these involved the authority using their old two-letter mark (which conveniently identifies its issuing authority) and a third letter starting with A and in most cases ending with Y. Largely Z in all positions was reserved for Ireland.
■ The above takes Northampton/ Northants up to the point suffix letters were issued (1964)
■ Some authorities used just one series for both county and city (county town, or authority town)
■ Some authorities never used all their two-letter series, eg Bute SJ 1 to SJ 2860 ran 1904 to 1963
■ Major cities and densely populated counties used many series with London getting through a two-letter series in months, e.g. LW 1 to 9999 ran May 1919 to July 1919
■ Some (but by no means all) authorities used reversals of two-letter registration marks, and if so this was usually after all/ most three-letter and their reversals marks were exhausted
Were there mistakes?
Yes. For example, when I worked in the Royston and Cambridge motor trade in 1967, the identical Cambridge City mark HER xxF was issued to Mercedes-Benz car, a Cambridge City dustcart and a Honda moped. This error was discovered by the Mercedes owner when he parked next to the dustcart in the Mill Road area of the city; he was less than happy! The error was published with photos in the local press, and, on seeing this, the Honda owner came forward, his the third vehicle registered with this identical mark. He was amused!