In the Red

Having been fascinated with registrations from an early age, Brian Lake decided to look for a number plate with his initials. In 1983, he purchased a new BMW and tried to get an appropriate one featuring an A1 prefix. But he found that such desirable registrations were being held back by the licensing authorities for eventual auction at a later date.

In 1984, Brian decided to look again and found 733 BRY. He still has the plate and the same car 28 years later and considers that he has had 'more than his monies worth' of the £80 transfer fee. Years later, Brian's wife, Dawn, decided that she, too, wanted a personal plate and they bought R17 DNL for her Golf GTI and M6 DNL for their summer toy, the MGF.

In December 2010, Dawn managed to get Brian an '11' plate for Christmas. Being a new issue registration, they needed a new car to display it on. The GTI had to go but its R17 DBL plate was put on retention for future use.

Brian's perfect BR11 AKE plate now adorns the couple's new red Volkswagen Golf. Oh, and "Yes," says Brian, "we like red cars!"