What Car? Q&A June 2009 - Numberplate issues

Q) What happens to new car registration numbers in 2010? I assume we move from 09 to 59 later this year, but what happens after that? Will there be an extra digit?
Gemma Shorman, via e-mail

A) You’re right, the age identifier on all new car numberplates will swap from 09 to 59 in September. Then in March next year it will change to 10.

After that, the number of digits will stay the same, but there will be a slight variation to differentiate between decades. So, in September 2010, rather than 50, we’ll get 60. This will be followed by 11 in March 2011, then 61, 12, 62 and so on.