Woman's 'mindblowing' discovery after driving for seven years has everyone searching their own number plate

A woman who has been driving for seven years says her ‘mind was blown’ after discovering something about licence plates that she’s ‘sure no one else knows’.

Brit Courtney Wright took to TikTok to share her discovery, where she admitted: “I’ve just learnt something new this morning. I actually can’t believe.” You can see her discovery here:

The mum, who posts under the handle @courtneywrightxxx, went on to say that she was ‘sure’ that other motorists wasn’t aware of it, either.

She continued: “Did anyone know that on a car number plate… so I just thought the only relevance to a number plate was the number.

“So obviously, like, if it’s 23 then it was registered in 2023. No. Apparently, the first two letters on your number plate - so, like, my old car was MV and that means that car was registered in Manchester.

“So they all have different codes, so it goes from MA to M-whatever and that’s all from Manchester.

“The first two letters actually mean something. So you’ve got where the car was registered, the year it was registered and then just a random sequence.

TikTok/@courtneywrightxxx

"I’m actually… it’s literally blown my mind. Actually mind blown. I’m just… I can’t believe it.”

To be fair, I didn’t know this either until today and it seems me and Courtney here weren’t the only ones who were surprised as fellow TikTok users have rushed to the comments to question where their motors were registered.

Jon Kirkbright, sales director at Private Number Plates with more than a decade of experience in the trade, has previously shared: "To the untrained eye, number plates may look like a random combination of letters and numbers.

"While many people will be aware that the numbers refer to the year the car was made and registered, they may not know that the letters before them also have a hidden meaning.

Getty stock image

"They are known as 'regional identifiers' and refer to the DVLA office where the car was registered.

"This may be why your number plates start with the same letters if you buy more than one car from the same dealership, for example - it is not just a coincidence."

I won’t throw a whole alphabet of letters at you here, but Courtney was correct when she said MV is for the Manchester and Merseyside region - as are MA, MB, MC, MD… well you get the idea.

While plates that begin with LA, LB, LC, LD and so on are from London, and BA, BB, BC etc were registered in Birmingham.

You can check out a full list of number plate identifiers here, if you’re interested.