'O' to be in England . . .

A series of six previously unreleased registrations is to be offered for sale at auction this year. Each of the number plates 1 O, 2 O, 3 O, 4 O, 5 O and 6 O will feature, in sequence, at six consecutive events to be organised by the DVLA.

The first will be held at Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire on Wednesday 28th January, where 1 O is certain to be the highlight of a three-day event. A reserve of £10,000 has been placed on the item, but past sales indicate this may be a somewhat conservative valuation: At a similar sale last November, retired businessman, Rob Harverson paid a record £197,000 for the registration 1 RH.

Registrations with an 'O' prefix (O 1 etc.) date from as far back as 1904, but the reversed, suffix versions have never been issued - until now. DVLA Personalised Registrations' Marketing Manager, Damian Lawson, describes them as, “arguably, one of the last great jewels in our crown”. The ambiguity of the character, ‘O' – which can interpreted as either a letter or a digit, is one of the factors likely to generate enormous interest. For example 1 O can clearly be seen as ‘10', and 6 O virtually says ‘GO'.

The auction will also feature a whole host of other fascinating items, with reserves as low as £350, including: CO57 TAS (‘Costas'), DAM 144N (‘Damian'), DOR IIIS (‘Doris'), EA57 ERN (‘Eastern'), EAR 17H (‘Earth'), HAM 155H (‘Hamish'), JUD 177H (‘Judith'), KYL IIIE (‘Kylie'), MAG 991E (‘Maggie'), 57 OKE (‘Stoke'), ORV 111L (‘Orvill'), OUR 7OY (‘Our toy') and SPA 11N (‘Spain').

The full 2009 itinerary (with features ‘0' plate shown in brackets) is as follows:

• January 28-30 Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire (1 O)
• March 25-27 Ardencote Manor, Warwickshire (2 O)
• June 3-5 Wychwood Park , Cheshire (3 O )
• August 5-7 RBS Williams Conference Centre, Oxfordshire (4 O)
• October 7-9 Dormy House Hotel, Worcestershire (5 O)
• December 2-4 Tankersley Manor, Yorkshire (6 O)

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