With the new ‘24’ vehicle number plates hitting the roads from March 1, many people will be eyeing up a personalised number plate to add some personality to their car.

However, some people may find their creative juices stifled by the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) who, each year, ban some personalised plates which may be inappropriate or may cause offence or embarrassment.

Some of the best ‘good’ 24 registrations are then auctioned by the DVLA. For the 24 plates these include: ‘MY24 BMW’, ‘LO24 TUS’, ‘HA24 RRY’ and ‘AD24 AMS’. These (and many more) will be available in the DVLA’s online auction from Wednesday, 20 March until Tuesday 26 March, 2024 and bids start from £250.

However, Carwow, the online car-changing marketplace, has revealed some of the banned number plates in this year’s list.

The Northern Echo:

The list of banned 24 number plates revealed by carwow’s Freedom of Information request to the DVLA includes some inappropriate combinations of letters and those where the number 4 in 24 resembles the letter ‘A’.

These are some of this year’s banned number plates:

  • C24 ASH
  • TE24 ROR
  • **24 RSE
  • *D24 UNK
  • SL24 GGS
  • The letter W was banned immediately before **24 NKR
  •  **24 NAL
  • *F24 RTS
  • BB24 STD
  • NO24 RUS
  • EU24 WAR
  • FK24 RUS

John Rawlings, Carwow’s Consumer Editor commented: “Getting a brand new car is always a treat, but that would be spoiled if you discovered the number plate was attracting attention for all the wrong reasons!

“Spotting the first of the new number plates is always an exciting novelty each March and September, but having seen the full list of banned 24 number plates, we’re glad the DVLA uses some discretion so that we won’t be seeing these on the road.”

Is your number plate legal?

These are the rules you should be aware of around licence plates from the DVLA.

The number plates on your vehicle must:

  • be made from a reflective material
  • display black characters on a white background (front plate)
  • display black characters on a yellow background (rear plate)
  • not have a background pattern
  • be marked to show who supplied the number plate
  • be marked with a British Standard number - this is ‘BS AU 145e’ for plates fitted after 1 September 2021

The characters must not be removable or reflective. If your number plates were fitted after 1 September 2021, they must also be a single shade of black.

Your number plates can also:

  • have 3D (raised) characters
  • display certain flags, symbols and identifiers
  • display a green flash, if you have a zero-emission vehicle