United Kingdom number plate: Trailer

Format, years and the law

Format

L999 9999, for example I906 2909 (L is any letter, 9 any digit)

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

Years issued

2018 to today. Still issued.

Vehicle class

Trailer: trailers and semi-trailers where separately serialized. Issued for trailer.

Colours

Characters #000000 Background #FFFFFF

Typeface

prescribed font (drawing in Sch 2 para 1(2)(a)); Sch 2 para 1(2): the prescribed font OR 'a style which is substantially similar'; paras 1(9)-(10), inserted by S.I. 2021/1043, carry the same serif tolerance and the same six forbidden formations as reg 15(3)-(4) of the Display Regulations · license plate fonts

About this plate

THE BRITISH TRAILER MARK, a genuinely separate registration space under a genuinely separate statute, and the newest British series. Two facts make it structurally unlike every other entry here. FIRST, it does not replace the ordinary rule: reg 5(2) of the Display Regulations still requires the TOWING VEHICLE's mark to be repeated on the rearmost trailer, so a registered trailer travelling abroad carries TWO plates showing TWO DIFFERENT MARKS, and INF291 says exactly that ("It must be displayed as well as the towing vehicle's registration plate and must be fixed as far as reasonably possible from this plate").

How long it is valid

certificate years: 10. note: INF291: 'Your trailer registration certificate is valid for 10 years.' Registration is compulsory for trailers over 750 kg used in most of Europe and is unavailable to trailers of 750 kg or less and to A-frame trailers.

Legal basis and sources

1. The Trailer Registration Regulations 2018, made 20 November 2018 under the Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Act 2018 (c. 19) ss 13-25 and the Vehicles (Crime) Act 2001 ss 25(1), 41(2)(a); reg 15 in force... https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/1203
2. DVLA INF291 (2/26): 'The format of the trailer registration number is one letter followed by 7 numbers, which are set out over 2 lines'; 'a DVLA issued trailer registration number will never start with the letter C';... https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69df60e8a68b527bd9408e8a/trailer-registration-service-guidance-inf291.pdf
3. reg 5(2)(b)-(c): where a vehicle tows a trailer the TOWING VEHICLE's rear mark is displayed on the trailer (or the rearmost trailer), the ordinary British rule the 2018 scheme sits on top of, not in place of https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/regulation/5