Ferrari fan buys 458 FER

Ferrari fan John McKeon paid £21,714 for what he hopes will be the ultimate personalised registration for his Ferrari 458 when it arrives next year.

458 FER was sold during the first day of DVLA Registrations' three-day auction currently being held at Tankersley Manor Hotel, near Barnsley.







Although the £21,714 price tag was the most spent on a single registration, Mr McKeon decided to buy another two registrations - 2 END and DUM 8B - for "a bit of a laugh", spending a grand total of £25,000.

Immediately after securing the 458 FER registration, Mr McKeon said: "What a buzz. Buying the plate was nearly as exciting as buying my Ferrari, I just can't wait to see it on my car."

He added: "The 458 Italia has to be the Ferrari of the moment, as far as I'm concerned I have the perfect private registration for it. "

Reg

KS10 XXX or SC10 CUR?

Now this is a subject which divides the nation somewhat, well the UK anyway: personalised number plates. Some think they're cool. Some think they're naff. And some can't see what the fuss is about, and would prefer to spend their money on other things. All points of view are entirely reasonable: it's a matter of personal taste. I happen to think that a personalised number plate adds a touch of individuality to that metal box with rubber wheels that sits on your drive.

The '10' registrations went on sale today. I've bought two of them. They're not for the battered hulk that I've been driving around in since 2002. They're for the new car I'll probably be obliged to get by the end of 2010. My ten-year-old Honda CR-V has done nearly 130,000 miles and although it continues to give good service, it is showing signs of age. If it breaks down, I shan't give it a further chance. As a vulnerable and feeble girly, I can't risk driving a car that isn't reliable at midnight on a snowy night; nor one that might burst a hose when towing the caravan up some hill. So new car, new fancy registration. Of course, it might happen that the randomly-allocated plate that my new car will come with may be an interesting one; but probably not.

So I've become the proud owner of KS10 XXX and SC10 CUR, which on the plate look just the same as KSIO XXX and SCIO CUR.

The first is 'kissio kiss kiss kiss' (please don't laugh). The second is of course Latin for 'I know why', which may intrigue a few people if they know any Latin at all (although I suspect that it's bad Latin). I hope neither intrigues the police!

I did consider some other registrations, such as PR10 RTY ('PRIORTY' - too expensive, and someone got in before me anyway), SC10 LEX ('SCIO LEX' - Latin for 'I know the law', except that it should be 'SCIO LEGEM' which you can't have with the UK system), and the uplifting and aspirational SC10 PAX ('SCIO PAX' - Latin for 'I know Peace', except that it really ought to be 'SCIO PACEM', which again you can't have).

Of course, apart from finding the cash for a new car, I still have to decide between kisses and knowledge. Now that's not an easy or obvious choice to make!

Posted by Lucy Melford

Don't know why. I just liked it.
Thanks Lucy

Reg

Fraud trail for Peter Swatton

Arrogant Peter Swatton claims he's one of Britain's top players when it comes to personalised car number plates.
(Odd that since I'd never heard of him until I read this article)

Mainly he's good at getting personalised County Court Judgments.

We've heard from one of his latest victims, who bought a plate from Swatton's www.cherishedmarks.net in January 2007.

It took nine months, but eventually the plate arrived.

He went on to buy two more personal plates for a total of £6,750 in July last year.

"In March this year I finally received a certificate for one plate, with no mention of the other," he told us.

"I have made over 200 attempts to contact him. When I spoke to him last year he kept mentioning his terms and conditions which state that he can keep the money until the plate is ready - but that could go on indefinitely."

So he sued Swatton for £3,050, joining the long list of people who've taken the 53-year-old from Titchfield, Hants, to court.

He also operates as Berlinetta and www.carnumbers.piczo.com, and has 31 outstanding judgments against him, worth more than £90,000.

The largest is for £8,509 and another is almost five years old.

We first came across this walking disaster following a string of complaints in 2004.

The first thing he said when we turned up at his house was: "Are you bailiffs?"

But when we tried contacting him again this week the gate to his detached house was padlocked and our phone calls and emails were ignored.

If you want a personal plate, buy one through a member of the Retail Motor Industry's Cherished Numbers Dealers Association (www.cnda.co.uk).

Swatton, funnily enough, is not a member.

Update: Due to a pending court case we cannot for the moment accept any further comments on this blog. If you wish to post a comment please do so, but we won't be able to publish it at this time. When proceedings are concluded normal service will be resumed.

Article Author:

By Andrew Penman on December 3, 2009 12:00 AM in Investigations news


Reg