Your roundup of UK based number plate news
Announcing the sale by auction of VU 1
Regtransfers is excited to announce the forthcoming auction sale of VU 1 in our specialist number plate auction.
A superb, post-vintage mark, VU 1 was originally issued in 1930 by Manchester County Borough Council.
This excellent registration is dateless and can therefore be displayed on a vehicle of any age.
VU 1 will be offered for sale from Sunday 14th April until the auction closes on Sunday 21st April. It will appear on our "Coming soon" page from Tuesday 9th April, from that time you will be able to add it to your watch list in order to receive updates.
Ferrari flogs it
In an auction sale scheduled for May this year, supercar maker Ferrari will be selling off 25 private registration numbers it has used on its press cars. The numbers have appeared on Ferrari cars in a range of press and publicity photographs over a period of years. Bidding will take place at the venue as well as by telephone and online. Auctioneer's guide prices are between £500 and £3,000.
The auction, run by Iconic Auctioneers, will take place at SupercarFest at Sywell Park in Northamptonshire on Saturday 18 May 2024 and proceeds will go to the automotive industry charity Ben, which supports people who have worked in the industry.
Many of the numbers in the auction contain references appropriate to specific Ferrari models, or to features such as engine types. We've listed the lots below, along with notes regarding their relevance to the cars upon which they were displayed.
| Plate | Relevance |
|---|---|
| 458 FNE | 458 Italia / Ferrari North Europe |
| C1 FWE | Convertible / Ferrari West Europe (car registered in France) |
| C8 EDF | Convertible / 8 cylinder / Electronic Differential (EDF) |
| F1 CAL | F1 / California |
| F1 FWE | F1 / Ferrari West Europe (car registered in France) |
| F11 TAL | F1 / Italy |
| F12 ALU | Ferrari F12berlinetta / Aluminium construction |
| F12 HYK | Ferrari 12 cylinder / Hybrid KERS |
| F12 SFT | Ferrari F12berlinetta / Superfast (bodystyle and transmission) |
| F8 SFT | F8 Tributo / Superfast (transmission) |
| F8 TRB | F8 Tributo |
| FF12 BER | Ferrari F12berlinetta |
| FF12 FNE | Ferrari F12berlinetta / Ferrari North Europe |
| HY12 KER | Hybrid 12 cylinder / KERS |
| SF69 HYB | Scuderia Ferrari / Hybrid |
| V12 HGT | V12 / Handling GT |
| V12 HYK | V12 / Hybrid KERS |
| V12 OTO | V12 / One to One (prior to Atelier Personalisation) |
| V12 SFT | V12 / Superfast (bodystyle and transmission) |
| V6 FDE | V6 / Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer |
| V6 YAW | V6 / Yaw Control |
| V70 LAF | 70th Anniversary / LaFerrari |
| V8 EDF | V8 / Electronic Differential (EDF) |
| V8 PFN | V8 / Portofino |
| V8 SCU | V8 / Scuderia |
Bucket list biker clones number plates
We've highlighted the problem of number plate cloning a number of times. It can be a source of real stress and inconvenience to some, as innocent owners receive penalties incurred by vehicles displaying illegal copies of their number plates. Cloned plates may be used in offences ranging from speeding to violent robbery or worse.
While we never condone cloning, it is hard not to feel some sympathy for one Mr Dawson who was arrested on the A65 at Coniston Cold in September last year. Skipton magistrates heard that Mr Dawson, who has health issues and has suffered heart attacks, was fulfilling an item from his 'bucket list' by riding a motorcycle. However, Mr Dawson did not hold a full driving licence and did not have insurance.
Ironically, the number plates Mr Dawson admitted to cloning were the reason he was stopped. By a stroke of bad luck, the registration number was that of a motorbike that had been reported stolen earlier that very same day.
A blood test showed the presence of a cannabis by-product in quantities above the legal limit, and Mr Dawson admitted to drug-driving as well as to cloning the plates and driving without insurance. The court heard that Mr Dawson had been driving "very conservatively" and that he cooperated with police, giving a full, frank admission of his transgressions. He was banned from driving for 16 months, fined £140 and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge of £56.
Number plate scaremongering
A vehicle leasing company has advised people not to share their number plates on social media for fear of having them cloned by criminals. No, we're not joking. According to the company concerned, owners should obscure number plates before posting car pics.
In what seems to be a desperate effort to concoct content for a 'clickbait' press release, the company's spokesperson reportedly said "[...] it’s important to pause and ask yourself if you could be unwittingly helping a criminal? Number plate cloning is a growing problem that puts drivers at risk of being falsely accused of crimes."
The second sentence in the quote is perfectly true, and we have raised the issue several times, but the thing about not sharing photos on social media seems to ignore the fact that crooks can get inspiration for their plate cloning by stepping out of their front doors and simply looking at the cars on any street, or by knowing how number plate combinations work and just making up numbers in a valid format.
There's a difference between rational vigilance and paranoid silliness.
