Guardian Article - June 30th 2005

Everyone's a W111NER

If Michael Carroll had not been forced to keep a date with magistrates in King's Lynn on Tuesday he could have indulged in his favourite vice. Not banger racing or cruising through Fenland towns firing catapults, but buying person­alised number plates. Had he not busy receiving an Asbo, the lottery millionaire might have driven his jeep (L11 OUT) or gold Isuzu (W111 NER) to Crewe Hall in Cheshire for the latest auction hosted by the DVLA. There, A21 GAV went for £1,000, A911 KEV cost £1,400. CHAV wasn't available.

For years, only wisecracking celebrities and egomaniac revheads had fancy registrations. Jimmy Tarbuck drove COM 1C, Paul Daniels pur­chased MAG 1C, George Best had G 18EST. Now it is not just footballers: even referees pimp their plates (step forward Premiership whistle-blower Rob Styles). This would never have come to pass had the government, in 1903, carried out its plan to name every car, like ships. Instead, bureaucrats plumped for austere numbers and letters and Earl Russell acquired the first British pl ate, A1.

Snobs see customised plates as naff but their owners are often resoundingly normal. Lindsey Richards, 23, who works in a bank in London, was given L8 LRR for her 21st birthday: L8 because she's always late and LRR for her initials. "All the family had them but it was a surprise present and something I could keep for a long time," she says. "It makes your car more personal; it makes it your own."

Lindsey has just sold her car but kept the plates, paying the DVLA another £105 "retention fee" to keep L8 LRR until she next buys a car. She'll then have to pay again to get her new car re-registered. With all this paperwork, the DVLA earned £75m from customised plates in 2004.

Business is booming despite the red tape, says Mark Trimbee of RegTransfers. The company claims to have access to a database of 6m personalised UK licences. "We sell to everyone from your boy racer who hots up his car to retired CEOs. We sell to professionals, working-class, middle-class, upper-class. For young people with highly customised cars, it's like graffiti - it's their tag on the car."

Having missed the auction, what consolation can Carroll find? Apart from calling RegTransfers for NUT 73R or WHO5 BAD, he could go to the DVLA's website to buy L002 TTO for £1,299 or the must-have for any criminal justice fan: AS02 BOE. Yours, Michael, for just £499.

Patrick Barkham