2026's banned number plates: confused tabloids get it wrong
Regtransfers recently announced the list of combinations that are to be withheld from the release of the 26 series of vehicle registrations. The list, provided by DVLA in response to our Freedom of Information request, was, as usual, quickly picked up by news websites. Unfortunately, some tabloid newspapers' websites seem to have rather lost the plot and their coverage may confuse readers.
The list of suppressed registration combinations contains those numbers that will not be issued. They will not be included in the 26 release and so will not end up on cars. However, nonsensical headlines published on websites operated by The Sun and The Daily Express respectively declared, "New list of number plates BANNED by DVLA for being ‘too rude’ are revealed – they could land you with a £1k fine" and "New batch of number plates banned by DVLA as too rude for the road with £1,000 fines".
Clearly, there is no possibility of anyone being fined for having one of the banned numbers because, well, they're banned and won't be issued. They are being withheld and so will not be assigned to vehicles.
It appears that the tabloids may have felt the need to pad their articles to make them seem longer, and that they did so by shoe-horning in an unrelated general warning about potential fines for displaying plates that don't comply with regulations.
The two things are completely separate. No one will inadvertently be assigned a registration number that will get them fined, so there is no need for drivers to be concerned, so long as their number plates comply with regulations.
Disgraced Former Duke of York stops using his personal plates
The King's controversial younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, Duke of York, appears to have stopped using private number plates that referred to his former position as Duke. AY02 DOY and AY03 DOY were previously displayed on a Range Rover and a Bentley respectively, but Mountbatten-Windsor has now acquired a new Range Rover bearing the registration number KN74 EFK. The Mirror reports that AY02 DOY and AY03 DOY are not currently registered with DVLA as being assigned to any vehicle.
Mountbatten-Windsor has had most of his titles, positions and privileges withdrawn due to his association with convicted criminals Jeffrey Epstein (deceased) and Ghislaine Maxwell, and accusations of criminal conduct by Mountbatten-Windsor himself. The former prince is also being compelled to leave his current residence at Royal Lodge, the 30-room crown estate property in Windsor. It is understood that he will relocate to a house on the private Sandringham Estate next year.
Sisters' matching plates pay tribute to their late parents
Four sisters have bought matching cars and number plates in memory of their late parents.
Glynis Jenkins, Beverly Chase, Bridget Chadderton and Stephanie Ellis each bought a Mazda MX-5 with some of the money they had inherited, along with a matching set of private registrations to display on the cars.
The sisters' personal registrations, BD02 PEG, BD03 PEG, BD04 PEG and BD05 PEG contain the initials BD for their father, Brian Dack, who passed away in 2001, and PEG for their mother, Peggy, who passed in 2024.
Glynis Jenkins said, "It is a loving memory and is something different and something to keep."
Glynis also said that people always ask why they all have matching registrations, and that she and her sisters loved to tell their story and keep the memories alive. She said her parents would love the idea.
Crook attached fake number plates with rubber bands
A burglar who robbed a furniture store in Stockton-on-Tees was caught by police who became suspicious due to his car's speed. A police car followed the criminal's vehicle as it drove through a red traffic light and caught up with it at a layby.
When they examined the car, officers found that the driver, Paul Thomas of Kingfisher Drive, Guisborough, had attached false number plates to his getaway car with rubber bands.
Thomas, 54, and an accomplice, stole four lamps from Furniture Village on Portrack Lane around midnight on May 20 2024. While being pursued by police, Thomas pulled his car into a layby, where the passenger, his accomplice in the burglary, fled.
A police search of Thomas's vehicle revealed four lamps (worth £1,126 in total) stolen from Furniture Village, balaclavas, a drill, a screwdriver, two angle grinders, cotton gloves, latex gloves and the fake number plates attached over the legal plates with rubber bands
Thomas, who has multiple previous convictions for burglaries, pleaded guilty to burglary and received a ten-month prison term suspended for two years. The judge ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, to attend 26 days of an accredited programme to tackle his offending, and to complete 25 rehabilitation days, with the probation service.
