Government of Jersey

Vehicle registration marks (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 02 March 2022.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

I recently noticed most Jersey car and motorbike number plates have six numbers. Given that there is also a J0 that means there is the potential for a million plates. I would like to know how many plates there are in existence?

If possible could you then break this down into how many are single digit, double digit, triple digit, quadruple digit, five digit, and six digit.

Finally, if the first 100 number plates are not still in existence, where are they?

Response

The current vehicle register contains only the following registration mark ranges-

J1 to J311299 plus J001 to J009, spread as follows:

1 digit J numbers	2 digit J numbers	3 digit J numbers*	4 digit J numbers	5 digit J numbers	6 digit J numbers	Total
9	90	909	9000	90000	211300	311,308

* includes the J001-J009 series

JSY1 to JSY999 plus JSY001 to JSY009, spread as follows:

1 digit JSY numbers	2 digit JSY numbers	3 digit JSY numbers**	Total
9	90	909	1,008

** includes JSY001-JSY009 series

Whilst all 312,316 registration marks exist in the register, they are not all currently assigned to vehicles. As at 18 February 2022 there were 127,654 marks assigned to registered motor vehicles.

Historically, 'J0' was assigned to an 1899 'Jersey Benz' as a special case, due to the vehicle's construction history. This registration mark may only be used on this vehicle and is not transferrable.

The register also holds a range of marks for motor-drawn trailers registered under the Road Traffic (Registration of Trailers – Vienna Convention) (Jersey) Order 2018. This range extends from JT1000-JT9999. There are currently 20 motor-drawn trailers registered under this scheme.

There is also a range of trade licence plates for use by motor traders. As at 18 February2022 there were 170 active sets of trade plates.