In September 2001, number plates appeared in a new format. In this format, the first two numbers - '51' were the new way to tell the car's age.
Changing every six months - in March and September - these alternated between numbers starting with '0' and '5'.
The sequence started in September 2001 with '51'. In March 2002 it changed to '02'. In September 2002, the number became '52'. In March 2003 it became '03', and so on.
So, numbers starting with '0' show a car registered between March and August in the year indicated by both numbers. Those starting with '5' show a car registered between September one year and February the next.
In 2010, the numbers will become 10 (in March) and 60 (in September) and continue in the same way as before for the next ten years. See below for the pattern:
| Reg number |
Year registered |
| 51 |
2001/2002 |
| 02 |
2002 |
| 52 |
2002/2003 |
| 03 |
2003 |
| 53 |
2003/2004 |
| 04 |
2004 |
| 54 |
2004/2005 |
| 05 |
2005 |
| 55 |
2005/2006 |
| 06 |
2006 |
| 56 |
2006/2007 |
| 07 |
2007 |
| 57 |
2007/2008 |
| 08 |
2008 |
| 58 |
2008/2009 |
| 09 |
2009 |
| 59 |
2009/2010 |
| 10 |
2010 |
| 60 |
2010/2011 |
| 11 |
2011 |
| 61 |
2011/2012 |
| 12 |
2012 |
|
|
and so on.... |
Additionally, the first two letters of the registration plate indicate the area of the country the car was first registered in. Registrations starting with RA for example indicate the car was registered in Reading. The final three letters of the new format plate - 'ABC' are random.