Most exotic licence plate personally spotted on UK road

[renegademaster]

I'd probably say either Morroco or Kazakhstan. I don't remember much about the Morrocoan one other than it being a box van. The Kazakh one was a lorry and had Chinese quarantine tape on it(this was during mid 2022) so it must have taken a long journey. Outside the EU , Russia and Turkey sometimes I've seen popping up every couple of months, lots of Ukraine plates too, they always seem to be newish crossover cars too.

 

[507021]

Off the top of my head, Georgia and Ukraine. The former I've only seen one or two at the most, a fair few of the latter locally and further afield.

 

[Ediswan]

Had a North Macedonia SUV parked nearby for a few days recently (NMK).

 

[stuu]

USA (genuinely I assume, not far from USAF Lakenheath), Qatar/UAE/Saudi in London

 

[birchesgreen]

I saw a Ukrainian plated Nissan in my local Waitrose car park a few weeks ago.

 

[CastlebarKeith]

San Marino in Brentford

 

[90019]

For a few years, I used to see a Volvo from Colorado in Edinburgh for a few months in the summer.

There was also a couple of Russian cars that would turn up most years during August, a Land Rover Defender and an Audi A6, both from Moscow.

 

[Joshua_Harman]

Saw A Qatari car a little while ago in London what a drive that must have been

 

[Mojo]

See Kingdom of Saudi Arabia cars around central London quite often.

A few hundred meters from my house is an RAF station that is leased to the US air force, I regularly see a vintage US car (left hand drive) with US number plates (can’t remember what/if any state); something really unique like USA 1.

 

[hst43102]

I've seen a Toyota RAV4 (or similar!) with Canadian plates before - I think it may have been in York?

 

[Peter Sarf]

Where I worked plenty of Eastern European lorries (Poland, Hungary, Romania etc). They tended to be short lorries (non-articulated) pulling an equivalent length trailer.

Less exotic but in Oban, Scotland in summer 1974 "S1". Explained to me as the first vehicle registration number registered in Scotland. Very soon after that I got absorbed by railways.

 

[dazzler]

USA (genuinely I assume, not far from USAF Lakenheath), Qatar/UAE/Saudi in London

We see a fair few USA plates around the York and Harrogate areas, given that the listening post at Menwith Hill is not too distant...

 

[Shimbleshanks]

When I lived on Anglesey I think I saw a car with a Cardiff registration. Just the once...

 

[Howardh]

San Marino in Brentford

That's a good one, due to the size of San Marino!

Wonder if many in the south see cars with a J or G (Jersey/Guernsey) registration, as I never see them up here (and would love to give a cheery wave!).

 

[stadler]

I saw a car in London with a Mongolian number plate a few weeks ago. Mongolian number plates are very unique and recognisable because they are currently the only number plates in the world to use Cyrillic characters. All of the ex Soviet countries stopped using Cyrillic characters on their number plates decades ago and all just use Latin characters now. Mongolia is the only country left to use Cyrillic on their number plates.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

That's a good one, due to the size of San Marino!

Wonder if many in the south see cars with a J or G (Jersey/Guernsey) registration, as I never see them up here (and would love to give a cheery wave!).

Guernsey has no letter - it's just a number.
There used to be a Guernsey car that regularly parked at Purley station. Possibly some finance person seconded to the City of London.
Other than that, they're relatively rare. Flying from the islands is much quicker and cheaper than a long ferry journey so I guess most people will fly and then hire a car at the airport. You may get a few in and around the Portsmouth area.

 

[stadler]

Guernsey has no letter - it's just a number.
There used to be a Guernsey car that regularly parked at Purley station. Possibly some finance person seconded to the City of London.
Other than that, they're relatively rare. Flying from the islands is much quicker and cheaper than a long ferry journey so I guess most people will fly and then hire a car at the airport. You may get a few in and around the Portsmouth area.

As far as i am aware Guernsey is the only place in the world where ordinary number plates are made up entirely of numbers with no letters added. Of course many other countries have personalised number plates with just numbers. But i think Guernsey is the only one to just use numbers on all ordinary number plates. Even the neighbouring Alderney and Jersey have letters on their plates.

 

[Howardh]

Didn't know Guernsey was numbers only! File under "you learn something every day...."

G - that would be the plate of Gibraltar, which would be rare find almost anywhere; although being connected to the mainland probably see more around southern Europe than (say) Jersey in the UK. If I saw a Gibraltar plate in the UK I'd take a photo!

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Saw A Qatari car a little while ago in London what a drive that must have been

If it was actually driven, sure. But given the frequency with which gulf region "royal" aircraft, including freighters, fly in and out of London chances are it came by air.

Many, many moons ago while queueing for a ferry at Dover there was a Lebanese vehicle in front of us, a small 4x4. There was no doubt that was going overland.

 

[paulmch]

Doesn't meet the brief but when I stayed for a night in the small village of Yavi on the border of Argentina and Bolivia, I saw a VW camper with a German reg plate from Leipzig. Couldn't quite believe what I was seeing!

 

[dastocks]

I saw an Isle of Man plate on a car parked at a west London hotel. I think it was Bentley and the number was PEN1S.

 

[75A]

I saw an Isle of Man plate on a car parked at a west London hotel. I think it was Bentley and the number was PEN1S.

Bike man Steve Parrish had it for a while, but it's PEN15.
He's now got 60CK on a motorbike.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

As far as i am aware Guernsey is the only place in the world where ordinary number plates are made up entirely of numbers with no letters added. Of course many other countries have personalised number plates with just numbers. But i think Guernsey is the only one to just use numbers on all ordinary number plates. Even the neighbouring Alderney and Jersey have letters on their plates.

Well, there could only be one country with just numbers! The Guernsey people must have got in there first.

 

[MasterSpenny]

Not sure if this is exotic but I’ve seen a Honda around my area that has clearly been reregistered at some point - the registration contains the letter I. Surely that is illegal? I’m definitely not seeing things there. It also features a British registration.

 

[75A]

Not sure if this is exotic but I’ve seen a Honda around my area that has clearly been reregistered at some point - the registration contains the letter I. Surely that is illegal? I’m definitely not seeing things there. It also features a British registration.

Over here in Northern Ireland the letter I is normal, both my cars numberplates are BIGxxxx,

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Could it be a Northern Ireland plate? They often are (or were) things like AIB1234, CID4567 etc.

 

[75A]

xIG number plates are from County Fermanagh we're not in Great Britain but are in the (dis) United Kingdom.

 

[Ediswan]

Well, there could only be one country with just numbers! The Guernsey people must have got in there first.

Is there a rule/treaty/convention saying that all countries must use different formats ? I'm sure I once saw a car with eastern european plates which were consistent with both UK and that country's rules. It was LHD and not a UK model.

(For clarity, not the false plates sometimes seen where a UK registration is displayed on foreign style plates.)

 

[MasterSpenny]

Could it be a Northern Ireland plate? They often are (or were) things like AIB1234, CID4567 etc.

It has 6 characters, and I don’t know if that is standard with Northern Ireland registrations currently, as the UK tends to have 7 characters.

 

[75A]

It has 6 characters, and I don’t know if that is standard with Northern Ireland registrations currently, as the UK tends to have 7 characters.

In the north it's 3 letters, 4 numbers.