# United Kingdom number plate: Export X

> The United Kingdom export X number plate: format XL99 LLL, for example XE70 KGU, 2001 to today, car, van, truck, bus, and motorcycle.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/export-x · Markdown version of the HTML page, which is canonical. Site map: https://vehiclesdb.com/llms.txt · Terms of use: https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/terms

Part of [United Kingdom license plates](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom) (10 registration series).

![United Kingdom license plate, Export X (2001 to today)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/gb/gb-export-x/united-kingdom-license-plate-export-x.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `XL99 LLL` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | 2001 → today |
| Class | export |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle |
| Colours | background #FFFFFF; characters #000000 |
| Rear plate differs from the front | yes |
| Checking a registration | The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued. |
| Series id | `gb-export-x` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/export-x) |

Sources:

- [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 table to Sept 2049 - Feb 2050 = 99, and 'For security reasons, UK forces personnel are issued with standard index numbers'](https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-new-means-transport-northern-ireland/vatninmt3500)
- [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)
- [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-number-plates.pdf)

## What each position encodes

- 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'

## 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."

## Use it

- Plate image (SVG): https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/gb/gb-export-x.svg
- Make it with your own text: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plate-generator/uk?series=gb-export-x
- API: `GET https://vehiclesdb.com/api/v1/plates/gb` returns this series as the entry with `"id": "gb-export-x"` (https://vehiclesdb.com/api)

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Open data, CC BY 4.0: reuse it with a visible credit to VehiclesDB and a link (https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/attribution). Plate images show sample serials and are not open data (https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/image-license). Dataset commit db0ec0a: https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb