# United Kingdom number plate: Ni standard

> The United Kingdom ni standard number plate (Rear plate (yellow)): format LLL 9999, for example ABZ 1234, documented since 2001.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/ni-standard · 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, Ni standard (documented since 2001)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/gb/gb-ni-standard/united-kingdom-license-plate-ni-standard.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `LLL 9999` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | ~2001 → today (documented from 2001; the format is likely older) |
| Class | standard |
| 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-ni-standard` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/ni-standard) |

Sources:

- [Sch 3 Table A row 8, verbatim: 'A group of 3 letters followed by a group of 4 numbers (for example ABZ 1234, being a form of mark issued only in Northern Ireland).'](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/schedule/3)
- [reg 16(8)(b): no flag or identifier on a vehicle recorded in the Northern Ireland part of the register](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/regulation/16)
- [reg 2(1): 'relevant date' means 1st October 1938 in Great Britain and 1st January 1948 in Northern Ireland](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/regulation/2)
- ['Since 2014 the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) has been responsible for Vehicle Excise Duty and licensing of vehicles in Northern Ireland'](https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-new-means-transport-northern-ireland/vatninmt3500)

## Designs

| Design | Years | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rear plate (yellow) | 2001 to today | Black characters on yellow; no flag or identifier on a Northern Ireland registration (reg 16(8)(b)). | https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/gb/gb-ni-standard.svg |
| Front plate (white) | 2001 to today | Black characters on white; no flag or identifier on a Northern Ireland registration (reg 16(8)(b)). | https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/gb/gb-ni-standard.svg?design=front |

## About this plate

THE NORTHERN IRISH STANDARD MARK, three letters and four numbers, and the reason a British plate parser cannot be a two-letter-memory-tag parser. Unlike the Great Britain series this one encodes NO DATE AT ALL: a Northern Irish mark is dateless, which is exactly why Northern Irish marks are prized as personalised marks in Great Britain.

## How the region is encoded

The three-letter group is understood to carry a district identifier in its second and third letters, one of which is always I or Z (which is why the Regulations' own examples are "ABZ 1234" and "1234 ABZ").

## Before and after

| Relation | Series | Years |
|---|---|---|
| It replaced | [Prefix](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/prefix-1984) | documented 1984 to 2001 |

## Other standard plates here

- [Ni reversed](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/ni-reversed) (documented since 2001)
- [Q](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/q) (documented since 2001)
- [Standard](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/standard-2001) (2001 to today)
- [Prefix](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-kingdom/prefix-1984) (documented 1984 to 2001)

## Use it

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

---

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