Number plates

UK number plate area codes

The first two letters of a modern UK plate are a DVLA "memory tag": a code for the region and local office where the registration was first issued. Here's every region, the offices behind each code, and a free decoder for any specific plate.

AB12 CDE AB = area code · 12 = age · CDE = random

Anglia

Peterborough, Norwich and Ipswich

3 offices B

Birmingham

1 office C

Cymru (Wales)

Cardiff, Swansea and Bangor

3 offices D

Deeside to Shrewsbury

Chester and Shrewsbury

2 offices E

Essex

Chelmsford

1 office F

Forest and Fens

Nottingham and Lincoln

2 offices G

Garden of England

Maidstone and Brighton

2 offices H

Hampshire and Dorset

Bournemouth and Portsmouth

2 offices K

Luton and Northampton

2 offices L

London

Wimbledon, Stanmore and Sidcup

3 offices M

Manchester and Merseyside

Manchester

1 office N

North

Newcastle and Stockton

2 offices O

Oxford

1 office P

Preston

Preston and Carlisle

2 offices R

Reading

1 office S

Scotland

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness

5 offices V

Severn Valley

Worcester

1 office W

West of England

Exeter, Truro and Bristol

3 offices Y

Yorkshire

Leeds, Sheffield and Beverley

3 offices

The area code

The first letter is the region (L for London, S for Scotland, M for Manchester) and the second narrows it to the office that first issued the mark.

The age identifier

The two digits date the plate to a six-month window. 12 is March–August 2012; add 50 for the autumn batch, so 62 is September 2012–February 2013.

The random letters

The last three letters carry no meaning; they run in sequence to keep every combination unique, skipping any that would be easy to misread.

How to read a UK number plate area code

Since September 2001, every car registered in Great Britain has been given a plate in the AB12 CDE shape. The part people find most interesting is the first two letters, because unlike the rest of the plate they actually mean something. The DVLA calls them a memory tag: the first letter is a broad region and the second points to the specific local office that issued the registration when the vehicle first went on the road.

There are 19 regions in all, from Anglia in the east to the West Country and up to Scotland, which alone needs five offices to cover the ground. Pick a region above to see its full list of codes and offices, or decode a specific plate to find out exactly where it started life.

One thing worth repeating: the area code tells you where a plate was first issued, not where the car is now. Registrations are transferred and cars change hands across the country all the time. If what you really want to know is a car's history (its MOT record, mileage and tax status), that takes an actual lookup, which is what our full £5.00 report is for.