DVLA's Penultimate Sale of 2010

DVLA Personalised Registrations' autumn auction is almost upon us, with the prestigious Rudding Park, near Harrogate, the setting for this year's penultimate sale.

As ever, next month's three day event, which gets underway on Tuesday, October 5, will feature 1,500 personalised registrations, with reserve prices ranging from £250 to £10,000.

DVLA have again served up an eclectic mix of number plates, ranging from the sublime, like the "star" 10 O, GEN 151S and FLY 805S, to the humorous like RA55 STA, TUN 151A and CHE 4T!

For owners of arguably the greatest modern Ferrari, the A599 GTO will undoubtedly strike a chord along with F50 XXX, other popular registration plates directly reflecting car marques and models will be F635 BMW and LAM 80S while FHM 848E will certainly add a touch of glamour!. For the Liverpool FC fan, LFC 80Y surely is a must.

To register an interest or to download an auction catalogue, Click Here.




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Vinnie Jones wears his name on his number plate

For Vinnie Jones, it's important that everyone knows exactly who is driving the shiny black Range Rover as the footballer turned actor's number plate spelled out the words 'UK VIN'.

And cruising behind him wife Tanya brought up the rear in a matching black Jaguar with the plate 'UK TANYA'.



Quite why the couple were driving in convoy is unknown, but it's clear that they are fans of the high profile Los Angeles lifestyle.

The reformed footballing hardman has fit in well in Tinseltown enjoying a certain amount of big screen success since debuting in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells.

He recently revealed how other former players keep calling him in the hope of landing a movie role.

Ex Wimbledon teammate John Fashanu and Chelsea legend Kerry Dixon is among those who have called on Hollywood based Vinnie for advice.

Vinnie said: 'I've had so many calls. They want to be in a film. Or they want me to get their sons in.'

He also said he wants to open his own stage school to help budding British actors.

Vinnie added: 'It's so scary out there! These youngsters come to Hollywood and don't know where to begin.

'I'm going to give them a bit of guidance if I can so that they don't get ripped off. It's hard to know who to trust.

"It's so difficult to get an agent, let alone an acting part! I've been around a while so hopefully I can help,' he told The Sun.


Read more Here!

Popemobile to have SCV 1 number plates.

The latest Popemobile has been unveiled ahead of the Pontiff's visit to the UK, a Mercedes with an average speed of 6mph.

The M class vehicle, with space for the Pope to stand and wave at the crowd, will be driven by a so far unnamed British driver.

It is not the first time the car has been used, having already made several outings in other countries.

The Popemobile carries the number plates SCV 1, which stands for Stato della Citta del Vaticano, or Vatican city state in Italian. (The 'SCV 1' on the Pope Mobile is Vatican registered, so is a duplicate of the UK one which is currently on a Cherokee Jeep)

Although the average speed is just 6mph, the vehicle can go much faster if needs be.

Historically, different Popes have used a variety of methods to enable them to greet the public.

Many years ago a simple chair was used that was held aloft and carried by papal attendants.

The first modified vehicles were used by Pope John Paul II in the 80s and were often crude adaptations of vans or trucks. The vehicles were issued the number plate VIP 1 for his visit. The cherished number plate VIP 1 was then sold to Roman Abramovich for £285,000 in July 2006.

Today he will travel from Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh through the centre of the Scottish capital for his first day of his visit.

After traveling to London for events tomorrow he will be driven in the Popemobile at 5pm from Lambeth Palace through to Westminster.

On Saturday evening, prior to a prayer vigil at Hyde Park, the vehicle will again be making its way through central London.

Pope Benedict moves to the West Midlands on Sunday where people will be able to line Hagley Road in Birmingham as he makes his way to an open air mass at Cofton Park.





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Tourist beware. Watch your speed in Spain.

A new speed campaign has been launched on the roads of Spain and the authorities targeting foreign drivers with their radar gun sights.

Plans to stop and fine tourists breaking the speed limit have been boosted by a new system. Each roadside camera can photograph number plates from any country. The picture is then shown to the driver on the spot, there is no escape.

"In 2009, 30 percent of offenders were foreign vehicles, and on some speed traps in the summer the figure exceeded 40 per cent. Here we have an alternative that enables us to show the driver the offence they have committed," explained
Frederico Fernandez, the deputy head of Spain’s
Dirección General de Tráfico.

The new speed cameras have been installed at four locations in regions where there is a high number of vehicles with foreign registration plates. The move has heightened the debate in Spain on whether speeding fines save lives or if it is just another way for the government to raise funds.


You could always get one of these ; )




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The law finally catches up with number plate fraudster

Justice has finally been served to a fraudster who ripped off a motorcyclist from a village near Burton more than a decade ago.

Mark Seabridge, 46, boasted to a friend as he flew off to a new life as a restaurant owner in Tenerife that he had conned someone out of 6,000 pounds for a private number plates, Stafford Crown Court heard.

The victim was Mark Sadler, from Wychnor, who had handed over a banker's draft for 6,000 pounds for the cherished registration M4RKS in 1999.

However, Anthony Johnston, prosecuting, told the court that all Mr Sadler got for his money was a pair of number plates, as Seabridge did not own the actual right to it.

It had been bought by someone else at auction.

Mr Sadler, who wanted to put the number plate on a motorbike, got his documentation returned and when he tried to contact Seabridge, he had disappeared.

Mr Johnston said Seabridge's partner had revealed the money was spent on living expenses in Tenerife.

Amanda O'Mara, defending, said Seabridge had subsequently lost his restaurant business on the Spanish island.

He was arrested when he came back to the UK in 2006 to be a prosecution witness in a trial.

However, he then went missing again until his recent arrest.

The court heard Seabridge had already served 37 days in custody, including a sentence for skipping bail following his arrest in 2006.

Seabridge, from Farnborough, Hampshire, admitted a charge of obtaining money by deception and was given a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for a year.

He was also ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid community work.

Judge Mark Eades told him: "This was a case of blatant fraud on Mr Sadler.

"You regarded it as a con to get money to feather your nest in Tenerife.

"If I was Mr Sadler, I would feel extremely aggrieved." Judge Eades also told Seabridge that he was lucky he was coming before the courts now, at a time when sentences are less severe than previously.

Referring to current sentencing guidelines, he told the defendant: "If you had come up for sentence in 1999, the notion of getting a four week sentence would have been laughed at."





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Town Hall Number Plate Spies, Caught in the Act

Snoops at local town halls across the country have been caught in the act, using the DVLA’s database to spy on people.

The Big Brother tactics emerged after councils were given the go ahead to use DVLA car registration records, strictly to track down owners of ­abandoned ­vehicles.

Instead, bureaucrats have been checking up on residents suspected of other offences that have nothing to do with motoring, in a blatant breach of the rules.

As a result, several councils have been banned from accessing the database and many more have received warnings after serious breaches were uncovered.

155 of the 432 local authorities allowed to use the ­database were audited, showing that the DVLA’s ­system was accessed 750 times a day in the 2009/10 financial year.

However, it was discovered that ­councils were using the system to try and find people for a variety of non motoring offences including horse fouling, littering and owning unruly/dangerous dogs.

Red coded warnings were sent by the DVLA to the chief executives of 56 authorities where ­serious breaches of the system had been uncovered. A further 99 also received warnings about abusing the system and 12, which failed to make the changes requested by the DVLA, have been banned ­altogether.

Campaign director of Big Brother Watch, Dylan Sharpe, said: "The outrageous and often illegal abuse of the DVLA database is yet another example of the way in which local ­councils will use any available means to keep a check on their residents.

"Law abiding people, or those suspected of very minor offences, are regularly having their ­personal lives exposed.

"They are being spied on for ­nonsensical reasons by these inflated town hall bureaucrats.

"The Government needs to rein in this sort of clandestine snooping as a matter of urgency."

Inspectors found councils breaking the rules by searching for registration plates with partial ­numbers, or by failing to log in and out of the database correctly.

Councils were given 24 hour access to the database to make it easier to find the owners of abandoned vehicles.

After a move by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the access was upgraded to help council staff investigate so called SDHp "environmental crimes".

A DVLA spokesman said: "We carry out regular audits of users to ensure they respect the terms and conditions of the contract and user agreements which cover this service. The reasons for suspension range from failure to respond to an audit letter to failure to comply with record keeping or data access requirements.

"In most cases, suspensions were related to mismanagement and record keeping, rather than inappropriate access."

The barred authorities are Nottingham City and Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, Corby in Northamptonshire, Brighton and Hove, ­Hastings and Lewes, all in East Sussex, ­Elmbridge in Surrey, Hull in East ­Yorkshire, Tower Hamlets in east ­London, ­Blackpool in Lancashire, ­Bedford in Bedfordshire and Stroud in Gloucestershire.




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Driver allowed to keep satanic plate

A driver in Skye was cleared in court after it was claimed that cyclists, who complained about her driving, did not like her "satanic" S666 SKY car number plates.

Sally Phelps, 65, was accused at Portree Sheriff and JP Court of careless driving in her black Volvo sports car by passing too close to a couple of women cyclists and frightening them. She was found not guilty after defence solicitor Duncan Burd produced a Bible in court and told the three magistrates on the bench: "The two cyclists were annoyed at the devil's car going past them so decided to report her to the police."

Yesterday, Mrs Phelps, a community councillor, of Kilmuir House guest house, Kilmuir, said: "I am not scrapping my unique registration plate, despite its apparent controversy. I had no idea my car number had connections with the devil.

"When my husband, Roy, bought the number several years ago it was for the 'SKY' part. The 666 bit came with it."

One of the cyclists, Fiona MacDonald, 49, who said in evidence she was a Christian, claimed she "felt the heat" of the car as it passed her with its "number of the beast" registration plates.

Mr Burd told the court; "In the Bible, Revelations 13:18 says 'Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man. His number is 666'."

Fiscal Stewart Maciver told the magistrates; "It is not the case that the cyclists were out to get her as she shot past in her fancy Volvo. There is nothing more sinister than it is a distinctive plate."

Both Mrs MacDonald and her friend, Victoria MacLean, 42, both of Uig, Skye, denied that the 666 registration plates had prompted a complaint to the police.

The chairwoman of the magistrates told Mrs Phelps; "It has been a difficult decision but there is reasonable doubt, so you are entitled to an acquittal. You are not guilty."




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