Number Plate Goldmine For Scottish Councils.

[ringway]

Council chiefs are being chauffeured around in vehicles with number plates worth millions
Half of the country's local authorities own private registrations.
Some are believed to be worth as much as £500,000, putting them among the top 10 most valuable plates ever issued in the UK.
The majority are attached to limousines used to transport lords provost and high-ranking councillors on official business, but others are sitting in vaults gathering dust.
Mark Wallace, campaigns director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said council bosses should auction off the pricey plates to fund public services.
He said, "There's no excuse for councils owning prestige number plates at a time when people are struggling to make ends meet.


Indulgence
"This kind of indulgence reflects the attitude of politicians towards the hard-pressed taxpayer. They should be auctioned off and the proceeds used to directly benefit communities."
The number plates owned by Scotland's local authorities were valued by Registration Transfers, the largest dealer in Britain.
They placed a £150,000 price tag on the TS 1 plate that adorns Dundee Lord Provost John Letford's official Volkswagen Phaeton.
The registration ES 1 used by John Hulbert, provost of Perth and Kinross, was valued at a similar amount.
But the firm are uncertain about how much Edinburgh's S 0 and S 10 and Glasgow's G 0 and V 0 plates would fetch at auction.
Marketing manager Angela Banh, said, "Valuing some of these plates presents quite a challenge.
"The 0 plates, for example, are something of an unknown quantity as they are a very limited set of numbers and rarely become available."


Up to £500,000
She predicted the plates would attract bids of up to £125,000 each, although other experts say their rarity could push the value to as much as £500,000.
Edinburgh also owns the SS 10 registration, but this sits in a box rather than being attached to a car.

Other valuable number plates adorning civic vehicles include Aberdeen's RG 0, East Renfrewshire's HS 0, Inverclyde's VS 0 and Midlothian's SY 0. They are each believed to be worth at least £50,000.
Most of the number plates owned by local authorities were inherited from the old district councils. The reason why some provosts were given more prestigious registrations than others has been lost in the mists of time.
Ms Banh added, "Some councils have been rather more fortunate than others, but we would expect just about all of these plates to perform well at auction, with some quite possibly making it on to the list of the UK's top 10 most valuable registration numbers.


Spectacular
"The current record holder, F 1, was formerly owned by Essex Council. It sold in 2008 for a spectacular £440,625."
The famous S 0 plate was created after Edinburgh's lord provost missed out on Scotland's first number plate - S 1 - at the turn of the 20th Century. S 1 was sold at auction two years ago for almost £400,000.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said, "These plates are not only assets that grow more valuable by being retained, they are also part of the civic history of Glasgow and the west of Scotland."
Officials at the City of Edinburgh Council also said its number plates were of historical value and they had no plans to sell them off.

 

[Kendon]

Are they really an asset? A listed building, even a classic car could be an asset. These plates only have monetary value, they show no historical value to me, especially on a modern looking volvo as above.

What is the inflation like for these plates? Surely the money could be best used elsewhere. But I'm really not surprised about this.

 

[s500colin]

The Southampton Mayor's car has the plate TR1 on it, there was a rumour that Tim Rice offered to pay a small fortune for it but the council won't part with it.

 

[LTD]

A very good argument to have up your sleeve the next time your local council claim that something cannot be done as a result of lack of funds.

£500k would certainly make a difference in the community. A number plate adds hee-haw.

 

[jonnyboy]

just shows how much the electorate is taken for a mug

 

[wxmclk]

I think the government should step in here and do the right thing. If the councils concerned won't part with them voluntarily they should be forced to sell them off - they are after all public property.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Ah, this old chestnut again! Must be another quiet news week for the local papers, after all the excitement of the elections last week...

Mark Wallace, campaigns director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said council bosses should auction off the pricey plates to fund public services. He said, "There's no excuse for councils owning prestige number plates at a time when people are struggling to make ends meet."

Well, he would, wouldn't he.

Marketing manager Angela Banh, said, "... The 0 plates, for example, are something of an unknown quantity as they are a very limited set of numbers and rarely become available."

Ahem, they have never 'become available' for sale or auction. They have been allocated directly to the local authorities concerned, and registrations in this series will only ever reach the market if the DVLA decides to issue them in the future.

Most of the number plates owned by local authorities were inherited from the old district councils. The reason why some provosts were given more prestigious registrations than others has been lost in the mists of time. Ms Banh added, "Some councils have been rather more fortunate than others

This just gets better! The plates held by each council reflect the registration letters that were assigned to them under provisions of the 1903 Motor Car Act, and therein lies the historical value. Back in the pre-DVLC days when local borough or county councils were responsible for issuing registrations, they would generally retain number 1 (and sometimes number 2) in their own series for their official cars. Admittedly the two main cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow were allocated single-letter marks, but the notion of some provosts having been 'given more prestigious registrations' than others is frankly laughable.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said, "These plates are not only assets that grow more valuable by being retained, they are also part of the civic history of Glasgow and the west of Scotland."

Can't really argue with that. If the councils had sold these numbers in the 1970s for a couple of thousand pounds each, no doubt the papers would now be reporting that councillors had 'sold the family silver' for a pittance, and that the plates would have been worth 50 to 100 times more by now.

Also, these plates aren't necessarily the council's to sell. In some cases they'd have to go back to the DVLA if they were surrendered, and if they were subsequently sold the funds would go to the government's coffers. There's no shortage of unissued DVLA plates heading for auction every few months, effectively giving them a licence (no pun intended) to print money, so it would be a bit mean-spirited to strip the councils of their long-held plates.

 

[grober]

ACH No!!!!!

Reminds me of the story many years ago of the Lord Provost of Aberdeen's official Rolls Royce RG 0 which was always breaking down. Rolls Royce engineers were summoned to investigate and were appalled to find that the maintenance of the car had been entrusted to the garage that normally looked after the town councils refuse trucks [ to save a bawbee or two ye ken! ]
They have a diesel Jaguar XJ 2.7 TDVi now I think to replace their 4 litre petrol BMW 740 Li unlike their frugal Council neighbours Aberdeenshire who have settled for a more modest SKODA Superb 1800.