§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Transport for how long it has been the practice not to issue all number and letter combinations of vehicle registration numbers from one to 20; whether there has been any recent change of policy; and whether there are plans to issue these numbers to any public bodies or institutions.
§ Mrs. ChalkerVehicle registration marks are issued at the discretion of my right hon. Friend, and it has never been the practice to allocate all number and letter combinations. Marks are withheld if, for example, they are particularly attractive or vulgar. When the A prefix series was introduced in August 1983 numbers in the A1–20 range were not issued for this reason. There are at present no plans for allocating these marks.