• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
UK's 'most expensive numberplate ever' is heading on auction for £1.2m for bizarre reason

Home> Community> Weird

Published 16:12 6 Oct 2025 GMT+1

UK's 'most expensive numberplate ever' is heading on auction for £1.2m for bizarre reason

It's definitely not what you'd expect

James Moorhouse

James Moorhouse

People across history have always been keen to show off their wealth, whether it's lavish holidays, luxury clothing or live laugh love prints in every room of their house.

If the huge mansions and sports car collections weren't quite enough to win you some friends, now the rich and famous will have the opportunity to win another huge prize in this materialistic society, by getting their hands on one of the world's most coveted number plates.

There are plenty of funny number plates that have already been banned by the DVLA, so if you're thinking that someone is paying over the odds just to have W4NK3R on their car, then you'd sadly be wrong.

You then might expect the number plate to be something cool like 007 or A1 but it turns out the plate which is set to reach a pretty penny is actually very simple.

Advert

Sotheby's is set to auction off the number plate (Getty Stock Image)
Sotheby's is set to auction off the number plate (Getty Stock Image)

Sholto Gilbertson, RM Sotheby's UK director of sales, said: "The market’s fascination with exclusive, private registration plates continues unabated.

"With occasional exceptions, it is the general rule that the shortest, two-digit numbers command the strongest money, although the current UK auction world record is for a three-digit number.

"The registration number ‘1F’ has previously changed hands privately for a substantial sum, so there is a very high chance that it could set a new world auction price when the hammer drops on 1 November."

Yep, it's just 1F, and it could sell for anywhere between £800,000 and £1.2 million at next month's auction.

Advert

On their website, the auction house muses: "In his own inimitable commentary style, the late, great Murray Walker once said: '"If" is a very long word in Formula 1; in fact, "if" is "F1" spelled backwards.' A brilliant line typical of a man affectionately known as 'the voice of F1'.

Doesn't seem all that worth it to me (Sotheby's)
Doesn't seem all that worth it to me (Sotheby's)

"It could be pointed out that 'F1' backwards is instead '1F', like the very special registration number offered here."

It will have to sell for more than £608,600 if it wants to earn the title of being the most expensive of all time, after the previous record was smashed at a sale back in July.

The previous highest publicly disclosed sale price for a UK plate was £518,480, achieved in 2014 by 25 O, but it was JB1 which took the record back in summer, with collectors keen on its history after it was first sold to Jack Barclay (sadly not James Bond) in 1932.

Advert

I'd much rather spend my money on this beauty (Getty Stock)
I'd much rather spend my money on this beauty (Getty Stock)

Much like Arsenal, JB1's position at the top is unlikely to last long, as it seems as if 1F will sell for at least £200,000 more when it goes on auction at RM Sotheby's in November.

The plate was first registered to a vehicle in the Essex area in 1957 and was most recently applied to a £300k Ferrari.

So if you want to pay for a number plate which probably costs several times more than your favourite sports car, then you can show up to next month's auction, which experts have said represents an 'outstanding opportunity for collectors to give their car an instant identity.'

Featured Image Credit: Sotheby’s

Topics: Cars, Lifestyle

James Moorhouse
James Moorhouse

James is a NCTJ Gold Standard journalist covering a wide range of topics and news stories for LADbible. After two years in football writing, James switched to covering news with Newsquest in Cumbria, before joining the LAD team in 2025. In his spare time, James is a long-suffering Rochdale fan and loves reading, running and music. Contact him via [email protected]

X

@JimmyMoorhouse

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • There are more than 3,000 offences each year in Greater Manchester for these types of relationship behaviours
  • Bizarre reason The Office star's face is on products across the world without his permission
  • UK's youngest ever Omaze winners explain what they'll do with £3 million mansion
  • How one of the world’s most expensive substances which costs £106,000,000 per gram is set to be used

Choose your content:

4 hours ago
6 hours ago
8 hours ago
12 hours ago
  • Evan Agostini/Getty Images
    4 hours ago

    Burger King had to ditch ‘creepy king’ mascot for dark reason

    He will be haunting my nightmares tonight

    Community
  • RapidEye/Getty Images
    6 hours ago

    People claim the 'rapture' is back on for this week because the wrong calendar was used

    Apparently, the 'rapture' has been rescheduled

    Community
  • Instagram/cameron_film
    8 hours ago

    Woman shares what growing up in cult where 'mass orgies were normal' was like

    Writer Bexy Cameron shared her experience of being raised in the 'Children of God' cult

    Community
  • Guinness World Records
    12 hours ago

    World's oldest man reveals secret to long life after celebrating his 113th birthday

    João Marinho Neto turned 113 on 5 October and spoke about what has kept him going

    Community