Banned car number plates: naughty 74-reg plates deemed too rude for the roads

The DVLA produces a banned plate list twice a year (in March and September) that includes letter and number combinations containing references to crime, racism, politics and some aspects of religion as well as any term deemed as too rude for the road, insulting, inappropriate or could cause offence or embarrassment.

What’s banned from the 74-reg number plates release?

As Carwow’s banned list reveals, it’s the ‘4’ in ‘74’ that causes many of the problems this time around, due to its similarity with the letter ‘A’ – meaning plates with combinations like ‘FA74 NNY’, ‘SH74 TDD’ and ‘BL74 WJB’ won’t ever see the light of day.

Potential references to the ongoing war in Ukraine are also on the banned plate list, with NO74 RUS, EU74 WAR and FK74 RUS blocked from use. Anyone unhappy with low emission zones will not be able make a statement either, with NO74 LEZ included on the banned list too. Also crossed off the list are the more childish plates such as ‘74 RTS’ and ‘AB74 STD’.

The good and the banned ‘74’ car number plates:

In addition to banning number plates that are deemed inappropriate, the DVLA carefully considers combinations of the new numbers that car buyers are likely to pay extra for (think nicknames and initials).

Some of the best ‘good’ 74 registrations are then auctioned by the DVLA. For the 74 plates these include: ‘EL74 LEN’ (ELLEN), ‘BA74 LDY’ (BALDY), ‘PA74 RTY’ (PARTY) and ‘DA74 DDY’ (DADDY). These (and many more) will be available in the DVLA’s online auction, starting from £250.

You can find the full list of banned 74-plate combinations below. In the registrations, the asterisk (*) is a “wildcard” character that stands for any character that may appear in that position.