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The excellent ALW 1 registration

Phillip Haslam

Three years ago, Phillip Haslam from Derbyshire bought and imported a 1933 Aston Martin le Mans from St. Louis, Missouri. Phillip says, “The car was purchased new by Sir Malcolm Campbell shortly after he had taken the World Land Speed Record. Apparently Malcolm Campbell always chose a registration number with the figure ‘1’ in it and he always had his cars painted Bluebird Blue to match his original car.

When the car arrived in England it came complete with the plate ALW 1, but I later discovered that, as the car had been in America since early in the 1960’s the number had long since lapsed. Through the DVLA, I discovered that ALW 1 was owned by someone else, but they were not prepared to release any details. At the time I was somewhat disappointed as I was keen that the number should be reunited with the car.

One Sunday, in mid-August, for some unknown reason I happened to glance at the registration numbers in The Sunday Times – for no particular reason whatsoever (I had never really thought of looking for the number previously). Imagine my surprise when the number ALW 1 leapt out of the page at me from in amongst the thousands of private plates that Regtransfers were advertising – it really did seem such incredible fate that the number was available for sale at the one time in my life that I have ever looked at the adverts. Happily now, the car is reunited with its original number.”

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The role of DVLA

Car registrations and number plates, including personalised number plates, in the UK, are the responsibility of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, usually known as the DVLA. It issues new registrations twice a year and also maintains the central database that records details of all vehicles licensed to drive on UK roads, along with their keeper and registration information.

Regtransfers works closely with DVLA to complete registration transfers as quickly and efficiently as possible. Regtransfers is a DVLA-registered supplier of personal car registrations and number plates and is listed on the DVLA Registrations website. All number plates supplied by Regtransfers comply with DVLA's prescribed standards and regulations.

DVLA administers all UK registration transfers and issues updated registration documents when the registration number of a car is changed, or when a registration is removed from a vehicle and placed on a retention document in accordance with the DVLA Retention Scheme.

DVLA is a registered trade mark of the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency. Regtransfers is not affiliated with the DVLA or DVLA Personalised Registrations. Regtransfers is a recognised reseller of unissued Government stock.

Number plate regulations

When a car is on the road, it is an offence to display number plates bearing any number other than the vehicle's officially recorded registration number. If you purchase a private registration, learn how to transfer private plates before displaying the new number.

All registration number plates displayed on UK vehicles must comply with the official number plate regulations. DVLA oversees enforcement of number plates display regulations and maintains a register of approved manufacturers and retailers of vehicle number plates.

Regtransfers is not part of, and is not formally affiliated with DVLA.

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