Private number plates are becoming increasingly popular amongst motorists from all demographic groups, and are no longer only bought by the rich and famous. With prices now starting at less than ?100 there is something for virtually everyone, says Regtransfers.co.uk
Due to the regulations governing the display of motor vehicle registration marks in the UK, whatever name, word or message is represented on a personalised number plate has to be conveyed by the creative selection of the legal number/letter combinations that resemble it most closely.
A general rule of thumb is that the more expensive the number plate, the clearer the message it can convey. For example, a potential purchaser named Boyd would find a number of options available to him when it came to depicting his moniker on a personal number plate. He could settle for 13 OYD where the 13 represents the letter B ? a pretty good registration by any standards, and a bargain at just ?12,495. However, having purchased in haste, he may repent at leisure and wish he had waited until he had saved up for 8 OYD, where the single digit 8 makes a much neater B than the 1 and 3 pair in the cheaper registration? The price of 8 OYD? A snip at only ?29,995.
Anyway, no doubt you grasp the principle: numeric digits, either singly or in pairs, can represent letters.
While there are no absolutely hard and fast rules - because what works visually in one context may not do so in another ? the beginnings of a convention have emerged over the years, and now http://www.regtransfers.co.uk, the UK's leading supplier of private number plates, has compiled a concise "Plate Speak" glossary which appears below in a table showing which numbers are most often used to represent certain letters.
0 (zero) = D
1 = I or L
2 = R or Z
3 = B or E
4 = A
5 = S
6 = G or B
7 = T or Y
8 = B or occasionally A!
9 = G
11 = U, N or H
12 = R
13 = B
1V = N
VV = W
V = U
0(zero), 6, 8 or 9 = O
Some of these character substitutions may not seem terribly convincing as you read down the list, but in the context of a personalised number plate that spells ? or nearly spells ? a recognisable word, the human mind performs a neat perceptive trick, and everything falls into place to remarkably good effect. In fact, the tricks that one so often sees employed by the desperate, such as mis-spacing characters and the "creative" positioning of bolts, are really quite unnecessary.
Of course, the list above is just a starting point ? the most commonly used combinations ? but it should be enough to shed light on a few of those private number plates you've seen where it was obvious that the owner had something to say, but a little less clear precisely what it was.
http://www.Regtransfers.co.uk
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