Has it been that long?!

I can't believe my last post was in May! How time flies. Well I'll be doing my best to get back on this so keep a look out for updates!

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Another Number Plate for Ronaldo?

Another win last night for Manchester United means they are just one point away from winning the Premier League title. But even if they do, will their star winger still be with them next year? There are rumours that he is set to move in the summer to the Spanish giants, Real Madrid.

Some people have gone as far as to track down the owner of the number plate, CR 9. Why you may ask. Well, currently Ronaldo wears the number 7 at United but this is already taken by Spanish star Raul at Real Madrid. It has been suggested that Ronaldo has been promised the the number 9 shirt. It has been reported that Ronaldo's agent has already registered CR9 as a trademark in Portugal. Some time ago, it was reported that Ronaldo had purchased the registration CR 7 but this was in fact incorrect. Now it seems people think he may be interested in the registration CR 9 instead.

Clive Roberts, of Plas Vyrnwy, Llansanffraid however has different ideas. He says, "With the goals he is scoring for Manchester United I doubt he is going leave to go anywhere. Besides, I have had my number plate for more than 20 years and it is not for sale."

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Thanks for fixing the blog James.

Just a shout out to our techie, James for fixing our blog! I was gobsmacked to see him on Tuesday before 9am but well done to him for sorting out the blog problem.

And for all those who don't know James, here he is! He wanted a 'sexier' picture but he's happy with this. As he puts it, "I look a bit sales'ish, kinda cool but still sales'ish."

Well at least he thinks he looks cool!



Now we can get back to blogging about all things number plates again.

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Test Test

Hi,

I'm James and I am the technical guy that helps keep everything running nicely! And what a day so far...came in 25 minutes early by horribly misjudging the traffic and since then everything has been breaking on me! Including this blog. So If you're reading this, then I've finally fixed it! Yay, well done to me. Thanks!

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Flags on number plates now legal

At last, having a national flag on your number plate will no longer be illegal.
It has taken eight years but at last drivers can choose to display either the English, Scottish, Welsh or Union Jack flag on their plate. The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 has been amended so that as from Monday 27th April, the use of these symbols on number plates is permitted as well as the use of the European Union circle of stars and the letters 'GB' which was originally the only legal flag allowed.

In 2001, then Transport Minister John Spellar, assured drivers that such flags would be allowed and DVLA officials indicated it would made legislation within a month. They also said during this time, police would take a 'relaxed view' to alleged offenders. However, in 2005, lifeguard Neil Prendergast was fined £30 by Greater Manchester Police for having a Cross of St George sticker on the front number plate of his Opel Corsa. There have been many other reports of such fines and probably many more that have not been reported.

Well eight years later, they have done what they have said they would and we can all happily drive without being stopped and fined for having flags on our number plates. Hooray!

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Islamabad's War On Number Plates

A little while ago we had reports of problems with people in the UK displaying the Welsh flag on their number plate and there are always reports of people mis-spacing registrations. Then of course there are criminals with fake number plates. However, if this happened in Islamabad, you could face charges for terrorism. It was decided during a meeting chaired by Inspector General of Police that motorists with no number plates or displaying fake number plates will be booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

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Record Breaking Price for the Number Plate 1 D

As was expected, the number plate with the highest ever reserve set an a DVLA auction sold had the auction room packed on Wednesday 25th March at Ardencote Manor Hotel and Country Club in Warwick. For some reason, the DVLA had organised the auction to be in a room that was too small for such an event and therefore many people were standing at the back of the room. With bids coming from the hall, the phones and online, the bidding soon reached £100,000 and increased just as quickly to the £200k mark. The excitement grew as the amount increased steadily and eventually the hammer came down at an incredible £285,000. The total cost of the plate which had a reserve of £20,000 (the highest ever set for such an auction), was £352,411 (including fees and taxes).

The successful bidder was Nabil Bishara, a Lebanese property developer who bought it as a birthday present for his wife. Well, it's certainly a unique present for a someone who may already have everything else. '1 D' is expected to go on her Bentley.

Video of '1 D' auction - Wed 25th Mar 2009

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Number Plate Auction

The second DVLA number plates auction of the 2009 will start next week on Wednesday 25th March at Ardencote Manor Hotel and Country Club in Claverdon, Warwick.

There will be 1600 registrations on offer. If you are a rugby fan you could try for RUG 13Y or if you're brave enough you could get B4 LLS. It's a bit late for Mother's Day but you could also surprise your mum with a belated present and buy B357 MUM.

However, the ultimate registration of the auction will be on day one when the number plate '1 D' is auctioned. This has already broken records by having the highest reserve ever for a DVLA auction. '1 O' was sold in January 2009 for the sum of £210,242 and '1 D' is expected to surpass this amount.

The plate '2 O' will also be auctioned in the second of the series of 'O' that will be auctioned throughout 2009.

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The New Edition of The World of Personal Number Plates

The first issue of 2009 of The World of Personal Number Plates is now available. This will in fact be the 20th issue of the Regtransfers magazine.

In these financially uncertain times, it is good to see that the number plates market is still healthy. This is reported in the magazine and in earlier blog posts.

This issue's exclusive interview is with Dragons' Den entrepreneur James Caan. In the article, James shares with us how he became one of Britain's most well-known and successful businessman and what he thinks about personalised registrations. If you want to find out more about James Caan, his autobiography, The Real Deal: My Story From Brick Lane To Dragons' Den is now available.

There is also a feature with Theo Paphitis's Maybach. Michael Brown, Theo's chauffeur, decided it would be a good idea to pull the Maybach a mile along the Mercedes-Benz World test track in Weybridge, Surrey. This wasn't just for the exercise - it was all in aid of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.

There is also the usual mix of articles, news, letters, photos and listings - so why not get your copy now from Regtransfers. As always, the magazine is free to all!

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Hong Kong Number Plate News

It certainly has been a busy couple of weeks here at Regtransfers so apologies that I've not updated this for a while.

I didn't get a chance to blog that a number plate in Hong Kong sold for £150,000 just after the Chinese New Year. OK so that was a while ago but still worth noting.

It was at a Hong Kong auction on February 7th February 2009 that the number plate "2318" with a reserve of $52,000 HKD (approximately £4670) soared to $1.7 million HKD (£152,000). Why so much? Any self-respecting Chinese person knows the significance of numbers. The numbers "2318" when spoken sound like "yee sam yat baat" meaning "easy life and prosperity" in Cantonese. The bidding was between an unknown woman and Mr Liang Qiwei. The woman was the eventual winner of the registration.

Mr Liang, a former race horsing king, was not to be outdone and bought '3218' for $750,000 HKD (£67,000) and also 'MY8' at $440,000 HKD (£39,000). The number plates are gifts for his sons and even after spending the equivalent of £106,000, considers the purchase to be a bargain. He says, "I can easily pay $2 million HKD to $3 million HKD for a horse. So what I paid for the licence plate numbers is nothing in comparison.”

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Isle of Man Car Number Plate Sells For £100,000

On Friday 6th February, MN 1, a rare Manx number plate sold for £100,000 at an auction held at the Mount Murray Hotel and Country Club.

Isle of Man registrations started on 1st January 1906, following the introduction of the Highways Act Amendment Act 1905. At the time, they started with the letters 'MN' followed by up to four digits. In 1935, they started using the prefix MAN with up to four digits. It was in 1971 that unissued numbers from the original MN 1 to MN 9999 were issued. MN 1 was part of a collection which belonged to the late John Moore.

The price for MN 1 shocked everyone at the auction. The successful bidder has remained anonymous. This just goes to show how number plates are so resilient at a time of financial uncertainty.

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Another successful number plate auction

Last week saw another successful DVLA auction. It was one of the most publicised auctions and saw many camera crews and journalists covering the event. It seems at times when the financial world is in tatters, the investment interest in number plates just keeps growing.

The top 3 selling registrations were:

1 O - £210,242
1 HRH - £113,815
3 S - £94,035

Both 1 O and 1 HRH went to anonymous phone bidders. Apparently, 1 O attracted both national and international millionaires, one of whom arrived by helicopter. The new owner of 1 O wishes their identity to remain a secret.

The Berkshire-based businessman who bought 1 HRH said he had been "determined to keep it in British hands". He added, “In my mind, there aren’t many registrations that can better 1 HRH. While bought as an investment, it will be placed on one of my cars.”

Venture capitalist Spencer Day was the successful bidder of 3 S. Mr Day said, “There’s no better time than at present to invest money in personalised registrations. While I have no immediate plans to sell it, I am confident 3 S will give me a healthy return on my investment.”

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Number plate 1 HRH sells for £113,815

The star of today's DVLA auction held in Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire, 1 HRH sold for £113,815 to a telephone bidder.

The registration had extensive media coverage in the days leading up to the auction and the auction hall had almost as many media people as people attending the auction. Journalists and several TV crews, including one from the BBC and Channel Five's Fifth Gear, were there to document the event - as was I. The tension in the room was high as the bidding increased quickly. Jonny Smith from Fifth Gear even offered £500 at one point if one of the bidders increased his bid. However, the bidder in the room declined. A partership from Scotland had travelled down to bid for the number and had to return empty handy.

Now what I want to know, is who purchased the registration? Was it really someone from the Royal Family as was speculated in the papers? I don't think so but let me know if anyone has any leads.

1 O and 3 S will be sold tomorrow at the same auction. I'll keep you posted as to how much they go for.

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Caught On Camera

For quite a number of years David Tennant has been in the spotlight as a result of his well known acting role in the hit show Doctor Who. Mr. Tennant was photographed recently, leaving a Radio Times party in his car. Mr. Tennant had failed to realise that the tax on his vehicle expired on the 31st of December 2008, which left him driving illegally without road tax.

Thanks to a photographer, Mr. Tennant could now be facing a fine of up to £1000 if the photograph should stand up as evidence in court. I’m sure Mr. Tennant will be rushing to the tax office as soon as he can.

Mr. Tennant who is yet to comment on the photograph which has put him between a rock and a hard place told his replacement about how he is going to be in the media’s eye and he will be under the scrutiny of the public 24/7. He said, "everything that's about to unfold and the way that his life is going to change in so many ways...it's exciting."

Maybe if the number plate D12 WHO was on the car, it may have been a bigger photo opportunity and the photographer may not have noticed the tax disc at all.

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DVLA Auctions 2009

Following the amazing success of the DVLA's Personalised Registration auctions, there will be another six number plate auctions this year.

The dates are as follows :

January 28th, 29th, and 30th 2009 - Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire
March 25th, 26th, and 27th 2009 - Ardencourt Manor Hotel, Claverdon, Warwick
June 3rd, 4th, and 5th 2009 - Wychwood Park, Cheshire
August 5th, 6th, and 7th 2009 - RBS Williams F1 Centre, Wantage, Oxfordshire
October 7th, 8th, and 9th 2009 - Dormy House Hotel, Worcestershire
December 2nd, 3rd, and 4th 2009 - Tankersley Manor, Barnsley

It was at Barnsley in November 2008, that businessman Robert Harverson bid £247,653 for the registration 1 RH. The star of the first auction of the year at Whittlebury Hall will no doubt be the rare 1 O plate, which goes under the hammer on Friday 30th January. Many personalised registration experts consider 1 O as one of rarest plates available. The reserve for this has been set at £10,000. Previous plates that have had a £10,000 reserve include 1 OO and 51 NGH, which sold for £197,000 and £254,000 respectively. We'll let you know the outcome of this auction as soon as we have the details.

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