Vehicle registration plates of the Channel Islands

Vehicle registration plates, commonly referred to as number plates, are the mandatory numeric or alphanumeric plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle. The Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey are outside the United Kingdom and the European Union, and have registration marks that are different from those used in the UK.

Jersey
Map showing the Channel Islands
J1, the first Jersey number plate

Standard plates

Jersey registration plates consist of the letter 'J' followed by one to six digits; plates may now incorporate the coat of arms of Jersey in a white strip on the left, along with the country identifier GBJ (Great Britain and Northern Ireland – Jersey). This design is similar to the EU standard plate, but does not incorporate the European flag, as Jersey is outside the European Union.

Special plates

Hire cars registered in Jersey display a silver letter 'H' on a red background on the left of the registration plate.

The prefix 'E' is used to designate temporary imports.

Where a vehicle is brought temporarily into Jersey... from a country in which the vehicle is not under the law of that country required to be registered, the Inspector may... assign to it an identification mark which shall be displayed on the vehicle as provided in that paragraph.
The Mark shall consist of the letter 'E' followed by a number.

— Jersey Legal Information[1]

Cherished plates, having the format 'JSY' followed by one to three digits, are officially auctioned. Such is the desirability of low digit registration marks that these are often included in the auctions. (The new registered keeper purchases the right to display the registration mark rather than outright ownership of it.)

A Jersey "trader" plate has white letters on a red background and is made of a flexible magnetic material. These plates are for use by a bona fide motor trader on any unregistered vehicle being used in connection with the business of that motor trader.

  • The Jersey (GBJ) identifier
  • A Jersey registration front plate bearing the GBJ identifier
  • A Jersey registration rear plate bearing the GBJ identifier

Bailiwick of Guernsey

Guernsey
Map showing the Channel Islands

Guernsey plates have been compulsory since 1908.

Standard plates

Guernsey plates consist of up to five digits, with no letters. Plates may be either silver on a black background, or black on the white/yellow backgrounds as in the UK. An oval containing the letters GBG (Great Britain and Northern Ireland– Guernsey), the island's international vehicle registration code, is sometimes included.[2]

Special plates

Registration number 1 is reserved for, and displayed on the Bailiff of Guernsey's car. The official car of the Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey has no number plate. His private cars have G1 and G2 as registration numbers. Guernsey hire cars sport a black 'H' on a yellow background on a separate square plate.

Most expensive plates

From 2012 some number plates beginning with 0 and 00 were released to generate revenue for the island. Registration 007 is a highly desirable plate especially for fans of James Bond or "007" - the plate achieved £240,000 at an auction in September 2015.[3]

  • The Guernsey (GBG) identifier
  • A Guernsey plate displaying the GBG country code
  • Guernsey front number plate without an identifier band
  • Guernsey rear number plate without an identifier band

Alderney
Alderney registration plate
Alderney yellow plate

In Alderney, a self-governing Crown Dependency in the Channel Islands, registrations are issued with the prefix 'AY' followed by a space and then 1, two, three or four digits.

Either international identifier GBA (Alderney) or GBG (Guernsey) may be displayed on the vehicle, and this is seen either in the oval format required internationally by the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, or on the side of the registration plate, in a similar style to that used in the EEA under EU Regulation 2411/98. The latest numbers issued (in late Summer 2017) are in the low 3000's (e.g. AY 3017).

Alderney is identified as a jurisdiction in its own right in the 1926 Convention on Motor Traffic.

Before the Second World War registration were issued at the Island Hall by the Island's Government, the States of Alderney; following the 1948 Agreement driver and vehicle licensing was delegated by the States of Alderney to the Guernsey Government as one of the "transferred services"; thus motor vehicle registrations are now issued by the Guernsey Government upon application to the General Office of the States of Alderney at the Island Hall in Alderney.

Registration certificates (known informally as 'log books', as in the UK) are issued by Guernsey on the States of Guernsey's Environment Department logo, but with the issuing authority stated as the States of Alderney. Because of this, the international designator for Guernsey may be displayed on the car instead of GBA, if preferred by the car's owner (this is relatively rare, however).

There are no legal requirements as to how an Alderney plate is to be made up – the Alderney Road Traffic Ordinance appears to be silent on this.

Alderney plates are commonly seen as either white or silver on a black background (pre-1973 UK style), or black on the white or yellow (both pre-2001 and post-2001 UK typeface styles). One or two vehicles are to be seen with old French-style white/yellow plates,n German or American-style plates. Occasionally number plates may even be hand-drawn, or the number painted on the car.

Notable plates

AY 1 is privately owned, as are all single digit registrations (although one is owned by the electricity company, a States' majority-owned company).

AY 999 is used for the main police car (usually a 4-wheel drive vehicle, currently a Dacia Duster).

AY 1071 is the registration of QUAY-FM's outside broadcast van. (QUAY-FM broadcasts on 107.1 FM)

Several vehicle registrations correspond to the four-digit telephone number of their respective owners (i.e. +44 1481 82 xxxx) – for example, the Georgian House Hotel's courtesy vehicle bears the mark AY 2471.

Sark and Herm

Sark and Herm ban motor vehicles other than tractors from their roads. There is no law requiring registration plates, but tractors on Sark still have to be licensed yearly, evidenced by a sticker displayed somewhere on the vehicle.

See also

References
  1. "Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) (Jersey) Regulations 1958 (revised to 1 January 2007)". Jersey Legal Information Board. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  2. "Registration Numbers". States of Guernsey. Archived from the original on 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  3. "Cheers as 007 number plate fetches £240,000 at auction". Guernsey Press.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.