Mail Article - October 15 2001

Sold, to a MR 51NGH

Clare Kitchen : Record £500,000 bid expected for Mr Singh's personal number plate

It will be worth far more than any car it could adorn, even the most luxurious model.

The personalised number plate MR51NGH may go for as much as £500,000 when it is put up for auction, more than the cost of a trio of Rolls-Royces or a string of sports cars.

DVLA experts are confident that bidding from Mr Singhs across Britain will easily surpass the previous highest price paid for a number plate.

That was for K1NGS which fetched an astonishing £231,000 for the Treasury in 1993. Hopes are so high at the DVLA because of the enthusiasm shown three years ago for plain old S1NGH, which attracted a final bid of £108,000.

'These numbers are very, very popular among the' Asian community,' said Damian Lawson, marketing co-ordinator for the licensing agency.

The new numbers we have are unique and there is only ever going to be one chance to acquire them.

'We know from the thousands of calls we have been getting that the demand is there.' MR51NGH is among a batch of plates containing the numbers 51 which have thrown up a range of unusual combinations.

Others which the DVLA hopes will attract a lot of interest include MUSICAL, DESIRES, PA51ONS, DESIGNS, CA51NOS, MR51MON, MR51LLY and UR51lEEK.

The agency held back the best combi­nations of the so-called 51 plates when they become available on September 1 so they could be auctioned in December.

'It produces some amazingly, marketable words,' said Mr Lawson.

'We are tempting people by holding back the most attractive combinations.

'It could be a very happy Christmas for the Treasury.

'The expectation is that this is going to be a really good sell-off.'

However, the DVLA did not spot all the most interesting combinations. Mr Lawson admitted: 'YE51CAN was sold for £499, something of a bargain.'

Previous records have been broken at pre-Christmas auctions and the DVLA expects to continue that trend at this year's sale at Ragley Hall stately home, Warwickshire, on December 18 and 19.

Despite being considered naff by some, demand for person­alised plates has soared since they went on sale in 1989.

Tens of thousands are traded each year and the average price has risen to £40,000.

So far, the sales have raised £540million.

Two-letter area codes are followed by the two-number age identifier and then three random letters.

The age identifier for the six months from September to next March is 51.