DVLA censors ban another batch of car registrations

Potentially offensive and problematic numbers withheld

Most readers are probably aware that the DVLA withholds a proportion of character combinations from each of the biannual registration releases. At the end of October last year, Regtransfers revealed the list of number plates that would be withheld from the release of 2026's '26' series of registrations. We have now obtained the data pertaining to the second 2026 registration release, the '76' series.

Data provided to Regtransfers by the DVLA shows that more than 500 specific number plate combinations will be withheld from issue in the forthcoming series, plus more than a thousand possible combinations that are represented by "wildcard" characters in DVLA's list. The full list may be seen below.

Every year, two new series of vehicle registration numbers are released for use on new cars. Although car registration numbers contain no innate meaning beyond letter and number codes identifying the area and year in which the number was issued, some combinations resemble names, words and other messages, purely by chance. Since the very earliest days of British vehicle registration numbers, at the beginning of the 20th century, the government has made efforts to suppress any potentially offensive or inappropriate text that may randomly appear on number plates.

In the early days, even mild and obscure perceived references fell foul of the censors' scrutiny. For some years, the letter pair 'BF' was banned in case someone interpreted it as standing for "bloody fool". Today's banned plates may still be fairly obscure, with supposed meanings that may not be evident to most people at first glance, but it takes something a little more shocking than 'BF' to trigger a ban.

What's banned?

Generally, the DVLA will suppress registration numbers that seem to convey obscenity, insults, racism, sexism, LGBTQ+phobia and other hateful or bigoted messages. They will also ban apparent references to religion, war, weapons, criminality, violence, drugs, sex, certain body parts and bodily functions. That list is not exhaustive. There may also be other content deemed unsuitable for release.

The DVLA's list of suppressed '76' registration numbers comprises 513 specific registration numbers, plus 10 wildcard combinations. In the list, the latter appear with asterisks in positions that would, in reality, be occupied by letters. The asterisk is a placeholder that stands for any character so, regardless of which letter would appear in the position marked by an asterisk, the resulting registration number is suppressed and will not be released. The wildcard combinations from the '76' series are:

• **76 OOK
• **76 YPO
• *F76 GOT
• *N76 ERR
• *N76 ERS
• *N76 ERZ
• *N76 GAA
• *N76 NOG
• *T76 NNY
• *W76 NKS

So, although only 10 of these wildcard combinations are shown, they actually represent the many more registration numbers that would be formed by replacing the asterisks with letters.

Surprising inconsistency

Combinations containing GUN have been withheld from past registration series, obviously because of the weapon reference. This forthcoming release continues that tradition, which highlights an apparent inconsistency. Although GUN combinations appear on this and many previous lists of suppressed plates, DVLA has sold a number of GUN combinations in its regular auctions of registration marks.

In DVLA's October 2025 auction, 94 GUN was sold for £13,194 and GUN 80Y (Gun boy) for £12,205. In the DVLA auction that took place in February of this year, 70 GUN sold for £14,306 and the thematically related S11 OOT (Shoot) achieved a price of £23,910.

GUN registrations banned from the '76' series include GE76 GUN, MP76 GUN and PM76 GUN. It will be interesting to see if any of them appear later as auction lots.

Eye of the beholder

While some banned plates are either exact spellings or visually obvious approximations, there are many that seem so cryptic as to be indecipherable. As number plates do not intentionally spell out any word or message beyond the identity of the bearer vehicle and the year and locality in which the registration was issued, any additional interpretation must be subjective.

In the following examples, we may give our interpretation of the probable meaning that prompted the DVLA to ban the combination. Where we consider the examples to be particularly offensive or sensitive, we may decline to interpret them in this article and leave the reader to test their own powers of deduction, if they wish to do so.

• AU76 WTZ - Probably seen as a reference to the infamous WWII Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in occupied Poland.
• AA76 LAH - Probably a religious reference.
• BJ76 HOT - Probably a reference to sexual activity.
• OR76 YXX - Probably a reference to sexual activity.
• OR76 YYS - Probably a reference to sexual activity.
• OR76 YYX - Probably a reference to sexual activity.
• BU76 GAY - Probably a reference to sexual orientation.
• CU76 LEZ - Probably a reference to sexual orientation.
• GU76 GAY - Probably a reference to sexual orientation.
• CU76 JAP - Probably suppressed because of a racial slur.
• GE76 PAK- Probably suppressed because of a racial slur.
• GU76 JEU - Probable antisemitic sentiment
• GU76 JUW - Probable antisemitic sentiment
• EA76 POO
• EA76 SHT

The full list of suppressed '76' registration numbers