LATEST: North Yorkshire Police chief Dave Kenworthy with the latest edition of AJ1

When a thief chose to give his stolen car a personal number plate he made the worst possible choice.

He could not understand how the law was so quick to pounce on him as he drove around in it.

That was until the arresting officer explained that while the letters of AJ1 might have been his initials, it was also the registration of the Chief Constable of North Yorkshire's official car.

For close to a century the roads of North Riding and now North Yorkshire have been travelled by a sleek dark car with the number AJ1.

AJ was the prefix for the old North Riding and I was given to the first and most important car.

"It's the cherished number for the chief constable," said force information officer Chief Inspector Ron Johnson.

First registered on December 6, 1907, the plate found pride of place with a single cylinder Argyle, which was dark green, picked out with red.

Acquisition of the car was the brainchild of an enlightened man, the county's second ever chief constable, Major Sir Robert Bower.

Once dubbed the most handsome man in the British Army, the major had a love of innovation and was granted permission to spend £300 on an official car in 1903 to perform his duties. His other notable innovations for the force were once of the early typewriters, the telephone and the first police patrol car, a 1911 Vulcan.

With just 14bhp on tap, it bore little resemblance to the current model, a 225 bhp Volvo 850 T5, but for its day was state of the art and one of the first police cars in the country.

Since then, the number has been on all manner of vehicles, including a Humber Snipe, Rover 3.0 V8, Rover 2000TC, Jaguar XJ6, Ford Granada and Vauxhall Senator.

Today AJ1 is often spotted whizzing around the county at high speed. But chances are the Chief Constable David Kenworthy, is elsewhere and there are no dignitaries in sight.

Tight financial constraints mean the car is often used by the training division to instruct drivers in safe police pursuits.

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