1903 - First series of number plates was issued, consisting of a one or two letter code followed by numbers from 1 to 9999.

The one or two letter codes indicated the local authority in whose area the vehicle was registered. The 1901 census was initially used to allocate these in order of the population size in England and Wales (ie A = London, B= Lancashire etc)

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Most people expect A 1 to be the first plate issued, but from surviving records, the first number known to be issued is DY 1.  This was issued on 23rd November 1903 at Hastings.

 

The year below indicates the year the one letter codes were used up,

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A - London - 1905                  B - Lancashire - 1919           C -  Yorkshire - 1912     

D - Kent - 1913                         E - Staffordshire - 1925       F - Essex - 1915

G - Glasgow - 1921                 H- Middlesex - 1912             J - Durham - 1922   

K - Liverpool - 1914                L - Glamorgan - 1921          M - Cheshire - 1919

N - Manchester - 1913           O - Birmingham - 1913        P - Surrey - 1913   

R - Derbyshire - 1923             S - Edinburgh - 1920           T - Devon - 1920

U - Leeds - 1921                      V - Lanarkshire - 1922         W - Sheffield - 1919

X - Northumberland - 1921     Y - Somerset - 1921

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The two letter codes then followed.

These area codes were used up until the change in 2001 to the current format.

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As can be seen in the tables below, some of the two letter area codes did change to different areas.  Most of the changes appeared to take place in 1963, 1974, 1980 and 1981.

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All of the information has been obtained  from the DVLA and other internet sources.  All of the information is believed to accurate.  If you believe that any of the information is incorrect, or you can give us additional information to add, please contact us.