First Numberplates

The first number plates were issued in the United Kingdom in 1903, as a result of the Motor Car Act, which came into effect on January 1, 1904. The act also introduced driving licenses and speed limits. The idea for vehicle registration was borrowed from the Netherlands, which was the first country to use national registration plates in 1898.
The first number plate known to have been issued was DY1, which was given to the second Earl Russell’s Napier car in Hastings on November 23, 1903. The early number plates were made up of one letter and one number, and often included an area code to identify a specific location. For example, “A” was used for London and “B” for Lancashire.

Alphabet System

In the UK, number plates on a car were ran the alphabet system. They were annually moved to the next year on the 1st September. This system started in 1983.
Example plate is L123 ABC – The L at the beginning of number plate was related to the year it was 1st registered…
1993 – L 1994 – M 1995 – N 1996 – P 1997 – R 1998 – S 1999 – T
1999 – V 2000 – W 2000 – W 2001 – Y

You might notice there’s no O, Q, U or Z, these weren’t used as they looked too much like other numbers or letters, or were kept for special vehicles.

All Change!

In 2001/2002 it all changed as they were running out of number plate configurations, so they introduced the new system. Twice a year new number plates were bought out, 1st March & 1st September.

From the 1st September 2021, the DVLA decided to start the plates at 51, so September 2001 was an example plate like this BR51 NGG.

Years And Reg Plates

   Year           March           September
2002/03       02                    52
2003/04       03                    53
2004/05       04                    54
2005/06       05                    55
2006/07       06                    56
2007/08       07                    57
2008/09       08                    58
2009/10       09                    59
2010/11       10                    60
2011/12       11                    61
2012/13      12                    62
2013/14      13                    63
2014/15      14                    64
2015/16      15                    65
2016/17      16                    66
2017/18      17                    67
2018/19      18                    68
2019/20      19                    69
2020/21      20                   70
2021/22      21                   71
2022/23      22                   72
2023/24      23                   73
2024/25      24                   74

September

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

Where Does The Money Go?

The roads are in a terrible state – where does the money go? Is a fair question, but just because it’s collected from vehicles it’s not really anything to do with the maintenance of our roads. The money goes into the same ‘pot’ as other forms of tax, so it’s just as likely to be spent on education, or hospitals as it is on new roads and infrastructure.

VED is paid either yearly or every six months, most people choose to pay yearly, as it’s slightly cheaper and something you don’t have to remember to do again for another year. The DVLA send out reminders so that you know when your tax is due, and it’s easy to pay online once you have your reminder letter.

How Much Is It?

The amount you have to pay varies depending on several things. How much CO2 your car produces, when your car was registered and how expensive your car was when it was first registered. There are several tax bands for VED.

If your car was registered before March 2001 it depends how large your engine is, if it’s under or over 1549cc. Cars registered between March 2001 and April 2017 have a different band system, this is based on how much carbon dioxide your car produces. If your car doesn’t produce very much in the way of emissions your tax will be a lot less, it could even be free! You can see the price table here.

Cars registered after April 2017 have a new system of tax. This was introduced as modern cars are producing fewer emissions, and the revenue collected from VED was falling dramatically. The government changed the tax bands to zero, standard and premium. With only electric cars in the zero band. If you have a car registered after April 2017 that, due to its low emissions would have been paying £35 a year in the previous system, you will now be paying £190! The premium rate applies to cars that were over £40,000 when first registered. These will be taxed at the higher rate of £600 for the first five years, after this five years the standard rate is then applied.

Changes will be made to this in 2025, when the zero rate will be removed and electric cars will be in the standard band, and also due to premium tax if they’re expensive enough.

Learn With Us

Whatever you drive you will have to factor in the cost of the tax as part of the general cost of owning a car. No-one likes paying tax, but it’s just a fact of life! The convenience of owning your own car, and the freedom it gives, more than make up for the cost of ownership. If you’re ready to start driving, get in touch with us today. We have experienced driving instructors in your area.

Road Statistics

Sadly the number of motorists killed on the roads this year was 354, 44 more than last year. pedestrian deaths were also up by 15 to 376, and e-scooter deaths were up 2 to 12. Cyclists were the only people bucking this trend, with 26 fewer fatalities than the previous year. Sadly more cyclists were seriously injured than last year, so there isn’t really anything to be celebrated here. The rates are still down on 2019 levels, so it depends whether you’re measuring against the last year or pre-pandemic levels, but any road deaths are a tragedy.

A DfT spokeswoman said: “We welcome a continued decrease in road casualties compared with 2019 levels, and work tirelessly to improve road safety for all, including through our Think! campaign, updating the Highway Code to protect the most vulnerable road users, and recent funding of £47.5 million towards improving the 27 most dangerous roads in England through the Safer Roads Fund.”

As the young are more at risk of having a serious accident we feel instead of being gloomy about these figures we should be motivated to do everything we can. Learners need to be taught to drive safely, to obey speed limits and be made aware of road safety. If we can create good drivers for tomorrow we can help to avoid road traffic accidents.

If you want to learn to drive there’s no need to be nervous, we’ll teach you to drive safely!

No Mow May

Banish your lawnmower to the shed this May and take part in No Mow May. Watch beautiful flowers come into bloom and help pollinators such as bees, butterflies and beetles.
With two Bank Holidays in the UK this May, the traditional sound of lawnmowers buzzing is fading away as more gardeners prefer the sound of silence, in support of No Mow May.

Road Verges

It was then suggested that local councils did the same on the road sides, verges & more.

We love to see wildflowers in the grass verges, but it has to be properly managed. If you spend a lot of time on the road you might find that long grass on verges can block lines of sight. If you can’t see properly at junctions and roundabouts it could cause accidents, and it will make it harder for less experienced drivers and learners. Where do you stand on this debate? Would you rather see wildflowers and long grass verges? Or do you find it’s having a bad impact on road safety? 

Pass With Us!

We aim to get our learners through their practical driving test first time, but sometimes we all make mistakes. If you’ve just failed your driving test don’t worry! It can make you feel like you will never pass, but you will get through it and pass with a bit of extra practice and support. The first thing to do is not give up! You’re allowed to book your next test 10 working days away from your last test (this generally works out to 2 weeks unless it’s over Christmas or Easter). As there is always great demand for driving tests you may have to wait a bit longer for your re-test.

Positive Change

So what should you do to make this new test turn out better than your last? It will help to identify what made you fail last time. Don’t beat yourself up about your mistakes, but identifying the reason for your failure will help you to avoid making the same mistake again.

Was it a problem with one of your manoeuvres? Maybe you just struggled to park, this can be easily rectified. You should ask for more practice at the manoeuvres that you find difficult, so the next time you face them in your test you’ll be able to do it without problems. Knowing you’ve got this well practiced will increase your confidence and help with the rest of the test.

Confidence

The problem could just be your driving confidence, so you need to ask for more general driving practice. If you have a parent or friend that will let you practice in their car this could be a good way to get enough practice to make you more confident next time. Maybe your problem isn’t the driving at all, it could be that you’re nervous and struggle with all exams. In this case more driving practice is still helpful, but you also need to find ways to cope with exam stress. This could be breathing techniques to keep you calm, or practicing taking the test so you have a chance to think through every part of it. Sometimes knowing that you’ve done it well before will help to keep you calm. If you feel it’s your nerves stopping you from passing talk to your driving instructor, as well as other people in your life such as your teachers, family and friends. Everyone will want to help you to overcome this hurdle, and they might have useful techniques to help. You might find a lot of people you know also struggle to pass tests, and you’re not alone. At Always Pass we’re experts in driving, and also in supporting people to learn to be great drivers and pass their test.

Let Us Help

If you feel you’re ready to try again, or maybe you’d like to try a new approach, get in touch and find out how we can help you pass your test.

De-ice

The best way of getting rid of ice on the outside of the windscreen is turn the car on, and the heater on full, ensuring the heat is directed to the screen. Turn the air-con on as well, this will help to keep the inside of the car dry. Make sure the windscreen wipers are turned off before you have cleared the ice away, as it’ll damage the blades of the wipers. You then need to use a scraper and/or liquid de-icer to completely clear the outside of the windscreen and the other windows and mirrors.

Using the air-con and heaters should also help to clear the inside of the windscreen. Something else that can help is to keep the humidity levels down in your car. You can get car dehumidifiers, these will absorb some of the moisture in the car to avoid some of the fog that collects on the windscreen. If you find you have a problem with the inside of your windscreen just use a clean, dry cloth to wipe the glass to make sure it’s clear and you can see properly before you set off. I know de-icing the car isn’t anyone’s favourite job, but if you’re a new driver you can think how much better it is in your nice warm car than having to walk!