Bumper Stickers

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Belinda" <bhobbs36 at ...> wrote:
>
> > Geoff:
> > Somebody care to explain what a vanity plate is? I suspect 
> > we have a different word...
> >

Belinda: 
> It is the "official" term for a personalized plate number, at the request of the car owner.
> BTW, my plate is PEEVES.
> and my daughter's (on a little black Elantra) is PADFOOT
> I also have a golden snitch antenna ball =)

Geoff:
Ah, A personalised number plate...

Car owners can do this to an extent in the UK - if 
the word or name fits the standard pattern.

You could not have PEEVES!

In the UK, it can fit either the pre-2001 system or 
the current system so there are some very convoluted 
examples around!!

The current system is  a straight 2 letter-2 number-3 
letter set up where the number is linked to the year, 
so an ordinary example would be WJ09ABC for March-August 
this year and WJ59ABC for September-February 2010 when 
the number becomes 10. (British bureaucracy at its 
finest!). So you have to play games with 51 representing 
SI for instance.

The older system "grew" from the very early days when 
you had letters followed by numbers or vice versa, 
the number element being up to three so if you were a 
Shakespeare fan, you could have a number plate like 
FOL 10.

The later plates were 3 letters-up to 3 numbers-single 
letter or vice versa. The single letter represented a 
year. so you might see personal plates like PAN 1 C or 
S 4 BEN.

I've always thought they are silly because if you make 
an idiot of yourself while driving or drive dangerously 
you are more obvious with a personal plate..