Most exotic licence plate personally spotted on UK road

[zero]

Apart from Saudi and Qatar mentioned above, I have seen UAE and Kuwait. They only seem to drive around Knightsbridge / Park Lane / Mayfair and sometimes up to Euston. I don't really understand it. If you can afford to ship or fly your car around, why not just buy a UK car to use in the UK. Or perhaps they transported the car once and it stays in the UK all the time while only being used a few times a year?


What about the most exotic place you saw a GB car? I saw a GB campervan in the Faroe Islands.

I saw a Nunavut plate in Vancouver (is it even possible to drive out of Nunavut?) and I saw a California car in Sydney (Australia - I suspect not so uncommon in Sydney in Canada though it is almost the furthest you can get)

 

[181]

I saw a car with a Quebec plate in Cambridge in about 1990, but it was just a glimpse in passing traffic, so I don't think I was sure (and I'm certainly not sure now) whether it was a real Quebec-registered car or just a UK one with a Quebec plate added as an ornament.

I think Ukraine is the most exotic I've seen for certain, or recently.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Is there a rule/treaty/convention saying that all countries must use different formats ?

No; there's somewhere in Africa - I think it's Kenya - which uses ( and has done for many, many, years ) the same format that we used to have in the UK before they introduced the current system. It's theoretically possible that a fair few of their numbers duplicated simultaneous UK numbers at some point.

 

[stuu]

Apart from Saudi and Qatar mentioned above, I have seen UAE and Kuwait. They only seem to drive around Knightsbridge / Park Lane / Mayfair and sometimes up to Euston. I don't really understand it. If you can afford to ship or fly your car around, why not just buy a UK car to use in the UK. Or perhaps they transported the car once and it stays in the UK all the time while only being used a few times a year?

I would guess that the shipping is a key part of the showing off

 

[stadler]

No; there's somewhere in Africa - I think it's Kenya - which uses ( and has done for many, many, years ) the same format that we used to have in the UK before they introduced the current system. It's theoretically possible that a fair few of their numbers duplicated simultaneous UK numbers at some point.

Romania currently uses the same exact AA11 AAA format as the UK. So there are probably quite a few UK number plates duplicated in Romania too.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Apart from Saudi and Qatar mentioned above, I have seen UAE and Kuwait. They only seem to drive around Knightsbridge / Park Lane / Mayfair and sometimes up to Euston. I don't really understand it. If you can afford to ship or fly your car around, why not just buy a UK car to use in the UK. Or perhaps they transported the car once and it stays in the UK all the time while only being used a few times a year?

Probably give immunity from speed and parking cameras

 

[route101]

Seen a few exotic ones over the years.
Last week I seen a lorry with Macedonian number plate.
I see Ukrainian number plates on cars now and then, I guess families who are now staying.
Moroccan on lorries are occasionally seen, quite a distinctive plate.
Not seen any Russian for a long time.
Seen a few Albanian number plates last year.
Seen a Kazakhstan numberplate on lorry near Darlington.
Iceland on a workies van, strange.
My favourite was a campervan in the Lake District with an Australian plate complete with oval.

I guess with Brexit there is more Non EU plates now, I regularly see Serbian plated lorries on the motorway.

 

[SargeNpton]

Saw this Jeep in Northampton a couple of months ago.

According to one of my more knowledgeable friends, it's a Japanese temporary plate that was issued in Neyagawa, Osaka. Whether the car came from Japan or whether the plate has just been attached to it over here remains to be seen.

 

[gg1]

My favourite was a campervan in the Lake District with an Australian plate complete with oval.

Maybe the same one I saw parked at either John O'Groats, Duncansby Head or Dunnet Head a few years ago. The one I saw looked like it was an especially capable 4x4 ie the sort of thing I could imagine being driven across the Sahara.

 

[route101]

Maybe the same one I saw parked at either John O'Groats, Duncansby Head or Dunnet Head a few years ago. The one I saw looked like it was an especially capable 4x4 ie the sort of thing I could imagine being driven across the Sahara.

I have seen one like a 4x4 before with Queensland plates. The one in lake district looked like a regular one.

 

[Busaholic]

Guernsey has no letter - it's just a number.
There used to be a Guernsey car that regularly parked at Purley station. Possibly some finance person seconded to the City of London.
Other than that, they're relatively rare. Flying from the islands is much quicker and cheaper than a long ferry journey so I guess most people will fly and then hire a car at the airport. You may get a few in and around the Portsmouth area.

There's been a VW I've seen every year for yonks in Penzance with a Guernsey five number registration.

 

[DelW]

Wonder if many in the south see cars with a J or G (Jersey/Guernsey) registration, as I never see them up here (and would love to give a cheery wave!).

Didn't know Guernsey was numbers only! File under "you learn something every day...."

I see Jersey and (less often) Guernsey plates on the A3 through Surrey reasonably frequently. I assume they're travelling between London and Condor Ferries at Portsmouth.

 

[Western Sunset]

I see Jersey and (less often) Guernsey plates on the A3 through Surrey reasonably frequently. I assume they're travelling between London and Condor Ferries at Portsmouth.

See a lot in Dorset too...

 

[Bald Rick]

Re Guernsey, it used to be the case that many Guernsey residents had their car reg the same as their phone number. I guess with land lines dying out now thats less of a thing!

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Gibraltar number plates are Gnnnnn up to 2001; then Gnnnnx where x is a series letter. The Chief Minister's car (a Tesla) is G1. The Governor's car, like the King's, has no numberplate.

Unusually for a British colony, traffic drives on the right - important to remember when I was cycling there!

 

[RichJF]

Turkish-registered lorry in a popular bacon butty layby on the A22 in the summer.

Overtook a Georgian-registered van on the M25 heading eastbound near the M26 3-4 months ago.

Handful of Ukrainian plates in my local area. Mainly on VWs & Skodas.

 

[typefish]

• quite a few Kazakh lorries across the UK
• Florida licence plated Nissan near Hunstanton (which, did not appear to be related to military)
• Northern Territories (Oz) Volvo V70 near Brackley
• New South Wales (Oz) Land Cruiser in Newcastle

 

[Bald Rick]

New South Wales (Oz) Land Cruiser in Newcastle

Which Newcastle

 

[route101]

• quite a few Kazakh lorries across the UK
• Florida licence plated Nissan near Hunstanton (which, did not appear to be related to military)
• Northern Territories (Oz) Volvo V70 near Brackley
• New South Wales (Oz) Land Cruiser in Newcastle

I wonder if them Kazakh are actually from coming all the way from Kazakhstan or they based somewhere closer.

 

[typefish]

Which Newcastle

Yes.

Joking aside, the relatively unheard one up by Sunderland.

Obviously one of the other Newcastles probably does get its fair share of foreign plates, but that might be because it's conveniently located next to the M6

 

[Tester]

Yes.

Joking aside, the relatively unheard one up by Sunderland.

Obviously one of the other Newcastles probably does get its fair share of foreign plates, but that might be because it's conveniently located next to the M6

I rather suspect that BR was alluding to Newcastle NSW!

 

[mpthomson]

Saw this Jeep in Northampton a couple of months ago.

According to one of my more knowledgeable friends, it's a Japanese temporary plate that was issued in Neyagawa, Osaka. Whether the car came from Japan or whether the plate has just been attached to it over here remains to be seen.

That's not a UK spec Jeep so likely a Japanese import (there are quite a few about, more traditionally they've been Shogun/Pajeros and Land Cruisers) that hasn't got its UK plate yet.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Apart from Saudi and Qatar mentioned above, I have seen UAE and Kuwait. They only seem to drive around Knightsbridge / Park Lane / Mayfair and sometimes up to Euston. I don't really understand it. If you can afford to ship or fly your car around, why not just buy a UK car to use in the UK. Or perhaps they transported the car once and it stays in the UK all the time while only being used a few times a year?


What about the most exotic place you saw a GB car? I saw a GB campervan in the Faroe Islands.

I saw a Nunavut plate in Vancouver (is it even possible to drive out of Nunavut?) and I saw a California car in Sydney (Australia - I suspect not so uncommon in Sydney in Canada though it is almost the furthest you can get)

I've seen a Kuwaiti-registered SUV in Manchester last month whilst visiting the Christmas Markets. I think it was a Mercedes G-Wagen.

 

[Geoff DC]

British trucks regularly ran far afield as far as Pakistan (occasionally India), Russia, the Chinese Border at Almaty, all over the Arabian Peninsula, and as far south as Nigeria in Africa.
Not very common for Brits now, but the reverse is still happening.
Iranians & Turks, Uzbeks, Kazaks, etc..
The Jordanians used to run to the UK from the early 70s, but like all traffic to & from the region, the Syrian situation makes that very difficult, the only safe option is Ro-Ro from Egypt to Greece or Italy.

 

[Jamesrob637]

British trucks regularly ran far afield as far as Pakistan (occasionally India), Russia, the Chinese Border at Almaty, all over the Arabian Peninsula, and as far south as Nigeria in Africa.
Not very common for Brits now, but the reverse is still happening.
Iranians & Turks, Uzbeks, Kazaks, etc..
The Jordanians used to run to the UK from the early 70s, but like all traffic to & from the region, the Syrian situation makes that very difficult, the only safe option is Ro-Ro from Egypt to Greece or Italy.

Michael Palin alluded to seeing a British-registered lorry at the Saudi-Qatar border in 1988 on his "Around the World in 80 Days"

 

[Geoff DC]

Michael Palin alluded to seeing a British-registered lorry at the Saudi-Qatar border in 1988 on his "Around the World in 80 Days"

Pic of me unloading in Qatar in 1975, Loaded in Maidstone Kent.

 

[dazzler]

I have just seen an ESTonian registration plate on a car parked in Tesco's car park at the Askham Bar Store in York, as you do! I didn't take a photo as it was dark!

 

[RailWonderer]

Bike man Steve Parrish had it for a while, but it's PEN15.
He's now got 60CK on a motorbike.

Were those number plates issued before profanity rules at the DVLA? Such a plate would never have been approved in the last few decades.

I saw a Monaco numberplate on an Audi A5 here in the UK and a UK plate in South Africa once on an old Land Rover. Also an Australian VIC region on an old Mercedes CLK.

 

[75A]

Were those number plates issued before profanity rules at the DVLA? Such a plate would never have been approved in the last few decades.

Don't know, next time I see him i'll ask, but it wont be for a few months when the bikes start racing again.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I drove my British registered Citroen BX to Murmansk in Russia in the mid-1980s. I must say, most the locals seemed pretty much unfazed.