Number Plate Advise.

I just wrote this as a reply on a forum then thought, I might as well post it here.
See what you think;

A friend of mine went to a DVLA auction a couple of years back with the intention of buying a ***1 or 1*** number plate.
Within reason, he wasn't fussy about the letter combination as he was thinking in terms of investment/heirloom.

At the auction, he soon realised that he was being out-bid by one man on every '1' plate that came up.

During an interval, the auctioneer approached my friend and explained that his rival was a dealer and suggested that he ask the dealer to 'step aside' on just one of these number plates, so as he could buy it and bugger off. This would leave the dealer with no competition on the rest of the one plates, ergo he could buy them cheaper.

A win/win situation you'd have thought but no.
The dealer refused this proposition and my mate, being a stubborn git, stayed for the duration of the auction just to bid the dealer up on every '1' plate.

When relaying this tale to me, he couldn't grasp the reasoning behind the dealers decision not to step aside as, over the course of the auction, this cost him "10's of thousands".

As I explained to him. It's all about the bigger picture.
It won't matter to the dealer if you beat him up by 1K on every plate at the auction.
(He claims that the most any of them sold for was 8K, BTW)
What's important is that he gets 'control' of as many of this type of number plate as possible that come onto the market.

If you control 80% of a commodity, then you control the open market price of it.
The other 20% are not going to complain if you force the market price up.



Reg

Should East Lancashire councils sell valuable number plates?

CASH strapped town halls have been slammed for refusing to give up number plates worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The mayoral car registrations are among the most sought after in the country.

Blackburn with Darwen's plate has been valued at up to 200,000 pounds, while Burnley's would raise 100,000 and Rossendale's 20,000.

Campaigners say keeping these 'egotistical luxuries' is a 'disgrace' at a time when people are struggling to make ends meet.

But defiant councils said they have no plans to cash in despite facing multi million pound spending cuts.

The Lancashire Telegraph has been given three independent valuations for the three high value plates.

Pendle, Hyndburn, Ribble Valley and Lancashire County Council do not have personalised plates.

Top of the pile was CB1, the plate of Blackburn with Darwen's black mayoral BMW, which was valued at between 150 and 200,000 pounds

Councilor Colin Rigby, executive member for resources, said: "There are no plans to sell the number plate.

"Any proceeds would only be a one-off, which might delay savings, but we still need to make ongoing savings year on year."

And Tory Mayor Sheila Williams said: "It might paper over some cracks for a year, but where do you go from there?

"It’s part of the town's history and this would be like selling off the family silver."

Labour opposition group leader Kate Hollern said: "I'm sure people of Blackburn could come up with plenty of things that money could be spent on.

"It would refurbish 10 houses for a start."

And Lib Dem deputy mayor Karimeh Foster said people would want the plates, which date back to 1904, sold if it helped protect front line services.

Mary Anderson, who is leading the fight to save Shadsworth Community Centre, said she was stunned at the value of the Blackburn with Darwen number plate.

She said: "It is a disgrace. This is the exact amount they are saving from the four community centres. The public needs to be aware of this."

Burnley council's HG1 plate is worth 100,000 pounds, according to all three companies.

It was taken from a fire engine in the 1930s when the council was also responsible for the fire service.

Council leader Charlie Briggs said the town hall had once tried to sell the plate to former Opportunity Knocks host Hughie Green.

He said: "He wouldn't have it. I knew then it was worth a considerable amount of money, but I didn't realise it was worth that much.

"But why would we want to sell it? It's part of Burnley.

"When you see HG1 coming you know the mayor's inside the car.

"If we're talking about selling the family silver that would really be scraping the bottom of the barrel."

Burnley businessman Andrew Brown, who ran as an independent candidate in this year's General Election, said the council should sell the registration plates because of the cuts it was facing.

He said: "It would make sense for the council to put it up for sale with a reserve price of 100,000 pounds if that is what it is valued at.

"If the reserve is met then everyone is happy."

Rossendale council's 1MTC plate was valued at 20,000 pounds.

The council said it was not certain where it had come from, although it is believed to have been donated to the authority in 1971.

Again bosses did not want to sell.

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "It's disgusting that councils are hanging on to these egotistical luxuries at a time when taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet.

"Councils facing spending cuts should be selling these private plates as soon as possible."





Reg

Emerates '1' number plate at auction

The world's most expensive number plate purchase.







Reg

Police number plate recognition camera rules tightened

Police cameras that record motorists' movements must be more tightly regulated, Home Secretary Theresa May has ordered.

The 4,000-strong automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) network logs more than 10 million vehicles every day.

The government is to look at limiting access to the database of 7.6 billion images, details of number plates and the date, time and place of capture.

Privacy campaigners said restrictions on the ANPR network were long overdue.

The cameras capture the front of cars and photographs can include images of the driver and any passengers.

Ministers will consider how long these records can be held. The current limit is two years.

Mrs May says she wants proper accountability and safeguards in the use of this database.

It comes as a decision was taken to remove 72 ANPR cameras in Birmingham after it emerged their installation, in areas with large Muslim populations, had been funded through a Home Office counter-terrorism fund.

Home Office minister James Brokenshire told the Guardian the national changes were necessary for public confidence.

"Both CCTV and ANPR can be essential tools in combating crime but the growth in their use has been outside of a suitable governance regime," he said.

"To ensure that these important technologies continue to command the support and confidence of the public and are used effectively, we believe that further regulation is required.

"We are examining a number of options and will also be considering the work of the interim CCTV regulator, who is due to report to ministers shortly."

The government is also looking at introducing a lawful right for police forces to log the information and greater transparency over where the cameras are.

The system was rolled out in 2006 to track uninsured drivers and stolen cars.
Review 'overdue'

The cameras work by scanning registration plates and checking them against information stored in various databases to identify vehicles of interest to the police.

An ANPR camera can read a number plate every second.

However, civil liberties group Big Brother Watch branded the network "an unnecessary and indiscriminate invasion of privacy."

Campaign director Dylan Sharpe said the review was "long overdue".

"ANPR gives the state the ability to track every car journey we make. It is about time that some restrictions were placed on the use of this intrusive technology."

The organisation is funded by the Taxpayers' Alliance pressure group, which lobbies for lower taxes and greater government efficiency.

Police say use of the cameras has led to the arrest of burglars, robbers and drug dealers, among others, and that they target criminals and not innocent law-abiding motorists.







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