CNPS

[bugshaw]

I had the epochal moment today, where after years of tracking down car number plates sequentially you finally get to spot your own car :-)

I started the day looking for a 305 - which I spotted when walking to lunch. Then on the way back from the pub this evening we passed a 306. With great indulgence, major_clanger took me on a detour down Perne Road, where I had noted a 307 and 308 previously parked: and they were there again today, ready for spotting! Before heading off to Hills Road where I'd seen a 310, Simon pulled over to the side of the road so I could get out and spot our car's 309. And then I spotted the look on Simon's face as I spotted his car number plate...

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Is 6 in one day a record?

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

It was only 5 (Hills Road was too dark for me to see if the 310 was there). It seems to go in jumps - I can go a couple of weeks without seeing anything, but there have been 3-4 days when I've seen 5-6 consecutive number plates.

[darth-tigger.livejournal.com]

I managed ten in one day, when I drove to Glasgow for Confounding Tales. Went from 48 to 58 (the last one being in the hotel car park, which was rather good). Of course, weeks later I'm still only on 59. Bum.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

I went all the way to Glasgow for Worldcon, and all the way back again, without seeing the number I needed. Bah!

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

By the time you get to 721 I may still own my current bike...

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

It'll take me four years at the current rate...

[mgspiller.livejournal.com]

I suspect there is call for a new variation based on the new number plates soon.

[cynthia1960.livejournal.com]

Is there some sort of geographic clustering going on with UK car number plates? Inquiring minds want to know.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

The Count will get back to you shortly...

[aardvark179.livejournal.com]

The only source of clustering on the number part I can think of would have been due to a dealership getting a large set of registrations at once (as, apart from the low numbered plates that were sold off separately, numbers were allocated within each area sequentially).

Since 2001 the number indicates the six month period the car was registered in, I don't know the allocation system for the three letter id part now used to distinguish between cars from the same six month period and area, and I don't know how many offensive letter combinations are excluded, but spotting roughly 14000 plates is probably a challenge too big even for bugshaw

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Humph. I was going to write a detailed explanation of the subtleties of information storage in British car number plates and how they ocnvey information about date and place of vehicle registration, but I see Wikipedia has got there already.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_car_number_plates

[aardvark179.livejournal.com]

Sark bans cars on its roads, so no number plates exist.

I love Wikipedia sometimes.

[cynthia1960.livejournal.com]

Cool. California doesn't seem to have any such rationality behind our plates; it's just sequential and any clustering is at the whim of the CA Department of Motor Vehicles (respect their authority, capricious though it may be!).

[naath.livejournal.com]

What are the rules to this game?

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

A very anally retentive man has written them out in great detail here:
http://www.richardherring.com/cnps.php

[naath.livejournal.com]

ah, sounds like fun...