No. plate vs. year of first reg.

Gentlemen,
I'm forced to give my age away here, but I have to 'fess up to the fact that I never got to grips with the 'new' system of number plates in the UK, having left shortly after it was introduced. I'm still in the era of suffixes. So a car with a C suffix is instantly recognisable to me as 1965 or thereabouts; F is 1967; N is 1975 and so on (approx anyway) I know 'em all. Then they went to prefixes when suffixes were used up (of which I know FA) and then some other system with two digits in the middle of which I know even less than nothing. Can some kind soul clue me up as to what a "57 plate" car is with some other examples to get me in the picture and bring me up to date, please? TIA

On 27/05/2018 18:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:
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The latest system was introduced in (I think) 2001. The format is two letters, two numbers, followed by 3 more letters.
The first two letters indicate where in the country the registration was issued. The two numbers indicate when the vehicle was first registered. The final 3 letters are just sequential AAA, AAB, AAC, ..AAZ, ABA, etc. to make the overall registration unique.
The year code changes a year - in March and September. The March - August registrations just carry the 2-digit year number - 01 for 2001, 17 for 2017, 18 for 2018, etc.
The Sept - Feb registrations carry the Sept year number + 50. Hence 51 was Sept 2001 to Feb 2002. From 2010 onwards, we went into the 60's.
You ask about 57. That would be Sept 2007 to Feb 2008.
The latest new cars have an 18 registration - Mar to Aug 2018. The immediately previous one was a 67 - Sept 2017 to Feb 2018.
Some people have made creative use if the system in order to make up something which looks like a word - but you can't have a two digit number which makes the vehicle look younger than it is.
This scheme will only last until 2050 - by which time most readers of this NG will be dead!
Hope that helps!

On 27/05/2018 19:03, Roger Mills wrote:
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Sorry, meant to say that the year code changes TWICE a year.

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Pretty sure all that info is on wiki for anyone who can be bothered to look. ;-)
Ah yes... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom
Tim

On Sun, 27 May 2018 19:03:34 +0100, Roger Mills wrote:
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I certainly hope so! I've no wish to get into triple figures.
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Er, yes thanks, Roger. What a fucking stupid system, though. I'd need to refer to a chart to work out the year and part thereof. Must be getting old!

On 27/05/2018 22:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:
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Why ?. It's very consistent once you know the rules,whereas the original suffixes and prefixes were silly. XXX 123A was a 1963 car.
They should have started in 1960 with 'A', or commenced in 1963 with a a 'C' suffix and skipped 'A' and 'B'.
Ditto the 'A' prefix which started in 1983 as a consequence.

On 27/05/18 18:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:
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The current system retains the year identification, plus the fudge of changing twice a year to appease the motor trade.
07 = 2007 [apr 2007–Aug 2007] 57 = 2007 [sept 2007–mar 2008]
if number less than 50, it is year of reg (Apr-Aug) if greater than 50, deduct 50 = year of reg from sept, or 1st qtr of next year.
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On Sun, 27 May 2018 21:41:28 +0100, DJC wrote:
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Oh, so it's them to blame. So... say I'm in London and witness a hit and run and can't get the full reg of the car involved due to bad eyesight and great age, which of the 3 groupings would be the most important to memorise?

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The last three letters. The year is fairly predictable (only 02-18, 51-67 have been used, and you can likely tell if it's a new or a 15 year old car) and chances are the initial letter is L for a London-registered vehicle. If you got the colour and maybe make/model of car, that's probably enough to narrow it down based on the last three letters.
Theo

On Mon, 28 May 2018 00:30:10 +0100, Theo wrote:
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Okay. Well, I'm willing to bet most people over the age of 60 would not know that. I'd have tried to memorise the first letter only in all probability, so that wouldn't be of much use. And even then I'd have to write it down within 2 mins or I'd forget it forever! :(

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Take a picture with your phone?

On Mon, 28 May 2018 11:55:42 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
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They'd be over the hills and far away long before I even got the thing out of my pocket.

On Mon, 28 May 2018 18:48:21 -0000 (UTC)
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..and then turned it on.

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Why would you carry a mobile phone that was turned off? ;-)

On Fri, 01 Jun 2018 10:44:05 +0100
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Because it is there for me to call out if I have an emergency or a breakdown. I don't want people calling me while I'm driving.

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Ah - right. You expect everyone but yourself to have their phone on at all times. ;-)
BTW, you don't have to answer your phone when you're driving, even if hands free. But it will have the missed call number to phone back when convenient.
I use my phone far more often to take pics. The only reason I bought a decent one - for the camera.

On Fri, 01 Jun 2018 14:01:31 +0100
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No. In fact, I object to people who only give a mobile number for contact, as that means I have to pay more when I call them from my home 'phone. Where did I say that I expected everyone else to have their mobiles turned on? The emergency services use landlines anyway.
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So there is nothing lost if I leave it turned off until I stop, and I won't be distracted by the call coming in.
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Mine has a camera, but only a medium one. For shots that require high resolution, I use my real camera. The 'phone one is good enough for memory-jogging, license plates etc.

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Not many real cameras that fit in the pocket in the same way as a phone. Plus you'd have to have that camera with you at all times - which most already do with a phone. And a decent phone will have a camera far far better than a dedicated digital camera of only a few years ago.

On 01/06/2018 15:22, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
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Newer phones do indeed have a higher resolution that older, proper cameras, but a 15Mp phone camera will never take pictures anywhere near the quality of an 8Mp dedicated camera - simply because of the lens.
SteveW

On Fri, 01 Jun 2018 01:19:27 +0100, Davey wrote:
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Yes, only to find the battery's gone flat.