Car number plates banned by the DVLA

We wanted to reveal some of the plates deemed too offensive by the DVLA

New number plates that can spell out rude or offensive words have joined the list of registrations banned by the DVLA.

Some of the latest words to join the vetoed plates include BU62 GER, TO62 SER and even RU13 BUM. However, the list isn’t put together by hi-tech computers, but instead by what staff working at the agency think is inappropriate.

“There’s nothing scientific about it,” a spokeswoman told us. “A group of staff meets twice a year and looks at plates that could be seen as offensive. It’s all done by taste, and if some slip through and we get a complaint, we take the feedback on board.”

Auto Express decided to see which registration plates might have slipped through the DVLA taste test, and a few had clearly passed it by – such as TO62 POT, LO62 ERS and AR62 END.

The list doesn’t just include words the DVLA classes as rude. Anything that can be seen as racist, religiously offensive or even drug related is also unavailable. These include any plate ending in 13 OMB and even AD13 CTS Not even buyers splashing out on a personalised reg will get away with rude plates, as the DVLA’s powers stretch to what can – and can’t – be used on these, too.

Here are a few examples of the number plates that have been vetoed by the DVLA in the past two years:

**13 OMB
BU62 GER
SC12 OTM
***2 HAG
DR12 UNK
LE61 ESS
AB13 ORT
PA12 EDO
LU61 FER
AD13 CTS
HE12 OIN
ST12 OKE
HE13 REW
JE12 KOF
TE12 ROR
***2 LUT
MA12 TYR
TH12 EAT
CR12 PLE
MU12 DER
SH12 HED
***2 PEW
NA12 ZEE
FA61 ***
AS62 OLE
PE12 VRT
NO13 ***
DR12 UGS
TO62 SER
RU13 BUM
FF12 TUS
KO12 AAN
LE12 ZER