STEPHEN LEWIS looks at what's in a number plate

FOR die-hard Yorkshire folk, the new car number plates that came into force on Saturday are a bit of a godsend. No more need of those little 'I love Yorkshire' stickers in the rear window - or even that prominently-displayed Leeds United scarf. The proud Y prefix carried front and back on your new car will be enough to make sure everybody out there knows you hail from God's own county.

It's especially pleasing that it should have happened in the year Yorkshire finally regained some cricketing pride and a championship last held back in 1968. What better time to be able to carry the badge of Yorkshireness on your car?

The new number plates aren't all good news, though. Pleasing as it may be to be able to broadcast to the world where you're from, the Government has done its best to tarnish the new Yorkshire numbers.

It has ensured the new system came into force just as the six-month period designated as a Y under the old registration system came to an end. Which means, horror of horrors, that to those who aren't yet in the know, your brand, spanking new motor with its proud Yorkshire designation could be mistaken for last year's model from literally anywhere.

"Because Yorkshire has got a Y under the new system, it is very similar to the previous Y registration," admitted Barbara Streather, Skoda dealer principal at FR Pulleyn in Wigginton Road. "So in York, some of the car number plates look very similar to the ones from last year."

Even worse, it appears that York and North Yorkshire have been totally ignored as geographical areas by those who dreamed up the new registration system. Yorkshire has three local DVLA offices that register new cars, in Sheffield (South Yorkshire), Leeds (West Yorkshire) and Beverley (East Yorkshire). Each of these areas has its own area designators on the new number plates - YA-YK for Leeds, YL-YU for Sheffield and YV to YY for Beverley. But, since the closure many years ago of the DVLA office in High Petergate, there's no office in either York or North Yorkshire: meaning we don't have our own particular numbers. Buy a car in York, and it's liable to carry either a Leeds plate or a Beverley one, depending on where the dealership you bought it from is registered.

It's enough to make you spit: as though we'd been whitewashed from the map.

Still, if you're happy with a Yorkshire plate as opposed to a York one, the new number plates must be good news. It's even possible that some homesick Yorkshire folk who live out of county may be willing to travel here to buy their new car to make sure they get their Yorkshire plates - which could be good news for local dealers.

Certainly there has been a boom in sales over the first weekend of the new number plates.

"Sales are going very well, and there has been a lot of interest. So it's good news," said Simon Brown, sales manager of Dixon Rover at Jockey Lane, Monks Cross. "A couple of guys here were working very late on Saturday, because people wanted to get on the road as quickly as possible so that everybody knew they had a new car."

At FR Pulleyn, as well as people coming in to collect pre-ordered new cars, forecourt staff also had to deal with a rush of customers coming in on spec to buy.

Sales matched the peak sale last March, the last time the number plate was changed, said Barbara Streather. All in all, over the next few days, up to 60 new cars were expected to be delivered, she said.

Even up-market marques may have benefited. David Sowden, dealer principal at Minster Jaguar, said that sales of new Jags had been going 'fantastically well'.

"We have had a four-fold increase year on year, and on Saturday we delivered 18 new cars, which for a Jag is pretty good going," he said.

A big part of the reason for the booming sales, though, David admitted, was the new X-type Jag rather than the change of number plate. "We tend to find that the plate change has never been as big a thing for us as for certain manufacturers," he said. "For the customers that we're selling to, the car is quite a status symbol in itself."

That's telling us. But there were signs anyway, David added, that many customers didn't fully understand the new number plates - and weren't even aware that the numbering system was changing at all. "It is going to take people a little time to get used to the system," he said. "I think people generally aren't that aware."

For those who don't know how the number plates work, we've included a handy little guide and graphic.

Meanwhile, if you're one of those who will be proud to sport a Yorkshire number plate (even if you can't have a York one), the AA has a warning.

The registration number of your new car doesn't depend strictly speaking on where you buy it, but on where the dealer you bought it from registers its cars.

So if you want to make sure your car will be able to carry that wonderful Y with pride, it may just be worth checking the dealer you plan to buy from does register its cars with one of the three DVLA offices in Yorkshire. If you don't, you just might end up with a nasty surprise. Birmingham plates, anyone?

The prefix letter at the beginning of the registration number no longer relates to the age of the car. Instead, there are two letters, which relate to the geographical area where your car was registered. Any car registered in Yorkshire will start with a Y, followed by another number depending on whether it was registered with the DVLA office in Leeds, Sheffield or Beverley.

Next come two numbers, which designate the age of the car. Under this system, 51 means the car was registered between September 1 2001 and February 2002. Cars registered between March 1 and August 31 2002 will sport an 02 number, while those registered from September 1 2002 to February 2003 will have a 52 and those between March and August 2003 an 03. And so on.

The final three letters on number plates are selected at random.

Police hope the new number plates - which will begin with fixed letters designating area - will be easier to remember: helping them trace stolen cars or vehicles involved in crime more easily.

Updated: 10:47 Tuesday, September 04, 2001