United Kingdom number plate: Export X

Format, years and the law

Format

XL99 LLL, for example XE70 KGU (L is any letter, 9 any digit)

• character 1: literal X, 'Indicates export'
• character 2: month of issue, A-F
• characters 3-4: age identifier, same six-month rule as the standard series
• characters 5-7: 'Random' alpha characters, 'For security reasons'

The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued.

Years issued

2001 to today. Still issued.

Vehicle class

Export: plates for vehicles leaving the jurisdiction permanently. Issued for car, van, truck, bus, and motorcycle.

Colours

Characters #000000 Front plate #FFFFFF Rear plate #FFFF00

About this plate

The series in its CURRENT shape therefore cannot predate 1 September 2001; earlier British export plates existed under the old formats and are not modelled. Note the jurisdictional oddity worth keeping: the clearest published description of a UK-wide export mark sits in an HMRC manual about NORTHERN IRELAND, because the Northern Ireland Protocol made the new-means-of-transport regime a Northern Irish VAT question, and the same page records that "Since 2014 the DVLA ... has been responsible for Vehicle Excise Duty and licensing of vehicles in Northern Ireland."

Legal basis and sources

1. HMRC VAT New Means of Transport (Northern Ireland) manual, VATNINMT3500 'The format of the tax-free registration mark': the worked example 'XA51 ABC', the X/month/age/random breakdown, the month-letter table, the age... https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-new-means-transport-northern-ireland/vatninmt3500
2. Sch 3 Table A row 1 supplies the layout: two letters and two numbers followed by three letters https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/schedule/3
3. INF104 § 05 age-identifier table, against which the '51' in HMRC's own example resolves to September 2001 - February 2002 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6694e379fc8e12ac3edafc60/inf104-vehicle-registration-numbers-and-numbe...