Cars are now rolling out of the showrooms with 23 plates attached thanks to the new March release - but there are a number of combinations people will not be able to get thanks to DVLA bans. Every six months the DVLA outlaws a number of plates with combinations of letters and numbers that could be seen as rude or offensive.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) holds a meeting twice a year prior to new number plates being released on March 1 and September 1, during which staff comb through potential registrations plates looking for “combinations of numbers and letters where we consider that they may cause offence, embarrassment or are in poor taste.”
The list of ‘23’ plates was obtained by carwow via a freedom of information request, revealing plates that would always be rude, as well as some that coukld be offensive in the current siuation.
Few drivers are likely to want to be told to GO23 HEL or EA23 POO by the car in front, for example, while nobody wants to share the road with a BA23 TRD. BO23 OKS and MU23 DER are also likely to cause perennial offence.
More recent events have led to plates such as RU23 UKR, NO23 RUS and YE23 WAR being suppressed, however, alongside CO23 ONA and EU23 BAD.
Rude number plates that might slip through the DVLA’s net ahead of the change can also be rescinded at a later date, although the organisation highlights that “the vast majority of registration numbers are made available”, as most are unlikely to cause offence.
Some number plates such as 'TO23 ERR' and 'AA23 OLE' were also reportedly banned by the DVLA in case they caused offense on the road.
More rude plates include BL23 JOB, EA23 VAJ and FA23 NNY
Carwow's consumer editor, Hugo Griffiths, said: "Personalised number plates are a huge business, bringing in £2billion for the Treasury since the DVLA started selling them in 1989, with around 400,000 cherished plates sold each year.
"Despite this lucrative revenue stream, there are some plates that are simply too rude for the road.
"And while few would argue against the suppression of offensive number plates, the biannual meetings where DVLA staff sit down and deliberately come up with rude combinations must be one of the highlights of the organisation’s calendar.
"Even for those not interested in personalised registrations, changing your car during the March and September plate-change months can be a wise idea, both for people wanting to have the latest reg, and for bargain hunters who could get a good deal on a car with the previous registration."
