Number plate letters explained
A current UK registration has five letters: two in the area code at the front and three issued at random at the end. Knowing which is which tells you what to order and how deep to stock it.
The area code
The first two letters record where the registration was issued. The first letter is the region: A for Anglia, B for Birmingham, C for Cymru, D for Deeside and Shrewsbury, E for Essex, F for Forest and Fens, G for Garden of England, H for Hampshire and Dorset, K for Luton and Northampton, L for London, M for Manchester, N for the north east, O for Oxford, P for Preston, R for Reading, S for Scotland, V for the Severn Valley, W for the west of England and Y for Yorkshire.
The random three
The last three letters are issued at random, which is why letters that never open an area code — J, T, U, X and Z — still turn up regularly.
The letters that are not used
I is excluded from current registrations because it is too easily read as the digit 1.
Q is not issued in standard marks at all; it identifies Q-registered vehicles whose age or identity cannot be established.