INSERT PREFIX REG SEARCH HERE
Prefix Issued Twice in 1998
The pressure put on both the motor trade and the local registration offices on August 1st every year was tremendous. By issuing prefix registration plates twice a year, the bottleneck of having a single day for a rush of new registration plates was somewhat alleviated. A side effect of this was that prefix registrations were used up more quickly, making the introduction of the millennium registration plate system necessary in September 2001
Prefix Registrations as Private or Personalised Number Plates
DVLA had the vision to withhold the numbers 1 to 20 from general issue when the prefix registrations A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H were issued. By 1991, when the 'J' prefix registration plates were issued, DVLA also withheld further attractive numbers like 22, 33, 44, etc; 100, 200, 300,etc; 111, 222, 333 etc. which they would later start making for sale rather than being standard issue.
Many of these number plates were very reasonably priced, and are responsible for powering a big surge in interest of personalised registration plates.
Not all withheld prefix registration plates would be released in this fashion, however. Some that clearly spelled names or words would be reserved and sold through auction. Others still would be given special release days where a range of previously un-issued numbers would be made available (first come, first served) many years after the prefix letter had originally been issued.