-
Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.
We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
sistersue61
master brummie
Thanks Bernie, have had great fun looking where some of our old cars were originally registered - interestingly, my current car is a UPU suffix, which indicates a Newcastle registration, yet it had one owner fron new according to the records and all its history is from Surrey! Dads old cars do fit their letters.
My son is currently asking all of mom and dads friends if they remember their old numbers so he can see whrer their cars were registered, who said kids need expensive toys, though it means I lose my laptop lol
Sue
My son is currently asking all of mom and dads friends if they remember their old numbers so he can see whrer their cars were registered, who said kids need expensive toys, though it means I lose my laptop lol
Sue
lindyloo
master brummie
It is indeed very useful Bernie, Thank You.... wish I'd have known about it a while back...it would have made life so much easier when I was trying to find out about my Grandads bike from 1929, ...fortunately an old friend was able to tell me where the bike was registered (Walsall) and the record centre there still had the records on file so I was able to find out everything about the bike 
Bill Parker
master brummie
Hello Sistersue,
if your car has a relativley new registration something like.....BG 55 XXX then using the last two letters no longer apply. This is because the DVLC were running out of numbers as they can only use derivatives of 1-10 as the "random element"
New type issues use 25 letters of the alphabet (no i) as the random element as it gives a much larger base from which to work.........so assuming you have a post 2000 reg then you need to take the first two letters in order to locate the area your car was first registered for example it now seems all card registered with in the larger Birmingham area start with B and the second letter can be from A-Z, then the two digits for the time of registration followed finally by three letters ie, the "random" part.
Hope that makes sense!!
if your car has a relativley new registration something like.....BG 55 XXX then using the last two letters no longer apply. This is because the DVLC were running out of numbers as they can only use derivatives of 1-10 as the "random element"
New type issues use 25 letters of the alphabet (no i) as the random element as it gives a much larger base from which to work.........so assuming you have a post 2000 reg then you need to take the first two letters in order to locate the area your car was first registered for example it now seems all card registered with in the larger Birmingham area start with B and the second letter can be from A-Z, then the two digits for the time of registration followed finally by three letters ie, the "random" part.
Hope that makes sense!!
Dirty Habit
proper brummie kid
I am not sure this happened in any other area's of the country, but Birmingham had a VP series of numbers. For example AVP 765G. These were used on some commercial vehicles but not on private cars. They were used on some "estate cars" though.
Curly
master brummie
Yes, this also applied to ?OA, ?OG, ?OM and I think ?OX. Commercial vehicles - vans, trucks, estates
Dirty Habit
proper brummie kid
The "VP" in the reg made it easy to distinguish an A40 saloon from a A40 Countryman.... even from the frontride:
ride:In my "youth" I collected bus and car registration numbers (don't know why now) and all Birmingham registration numbers had an O in the middle JOJ 123, GOB 123 etc: I had a Ford Zodiac KOX 420 and a Mini AOH 886B. I was once helped out when I ran out of petrol in '63/'64?, by a chap in an Austin A40 reg no XON 440. I can remember the reg but not the chaps name, funny what you can remember.
jimbo
jimbo
Dirty Habit
proper brummie kid
Flights Coaches almost always had a "7" in the registration number. And if my memory is correct, including the trade plates used by Flights Garage. I worked for Flights Garage at Victoria Road, Aston and remember the comments regarding Ken Flights superstitions, such as, not having or using any vehicle were the numbers added up to "13" and him not working on Friday the 13th.
Stocklands used to use a run of reg numbers (VOL 1, 2, 3 and 4, 22, 23, 24 JOC etc) back in the days when I worked for them. We had a few ex Flights drivers the most memorable being the one with the nickname of Mageeve who used to frighten the passengers when he walked up to the motor using a white stick, not sure how that would go down nowadays
