DVLA plates smash auction records
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) 100th auction of personalised registrations, which ended on Saturday evening, smashed the UK records for the most money paid for a vehicle registration plate and the total sum raised from a registration auction.
The registration ’51 NGH’ was bought for a total of £254,000, beating the previous record of £231,000 paid for the registration ‘K1 NGS’, which had stood for 15 years. In total, three numbers sold at the auction entered DVLA’s all time top ten table of best selling registrations including ‘1 OO’ which sold for £197,000 and ‘MR51 NGH’ which went for £101,000.
Another plate attracting a lot of attention was ‘RU55 ELL’, which was bought by Oxfordshire property developer, Russell Harrison of Russell Harrison plc, for £78,500.
Commenting on his successful bid, Russell Harrison said: "I’d been waiting for five years for ‘RU55 ELL’ to come up. A friend told me about the auction and I made up my mind straight away that I was going to get it. I want to use the number to promote my business and I think I might put it on my new Rolls Royce."
The DVLA auction raised a total of £6.5 million from the sale of 1200 distinctive registrations, beating the previous auction record of £5.4million, set earlier this year.
Damian Lawson, DVLA Auctions Manager, commented: "We thought that some of the marks would attract a lot of interest but this level of response is exceptional. This record result is even more incredible when you consider that we reduced the number of lots offered for sale by 250 for this auction."
The DVLA’s 100th auction isn’t just a story of big numbers however. Two cousins, Robert and Gerard Calise, from Sheffield and London respectively, who had never met and were not even sure of each other’s existence, were both drawn to the auction by the number plate, CAL 15E. Gerard prevailed with a bid of £1100 but then approached his only competitor for the number and discovered the family link.
"I thought I might be the last Calise in Britain and wanted the plate to keep the name in the family. I was amazed when this man sat right in front of me and started bidding! His father was my hero when I was a boy and I’m absolutely delighted to discover that he is still alive and living in Sheffield," said Gerard Calise.
His cousin Robert added: "I lost the plate but gained a cousin! We’ll definitely be getting together after the auction. There’s so much to talk about."
Another successful bidder, Carl Elsby from Northampton, who is a Liverpool supporter, showed a lot of confidence in his team when he purchased ‘F4 CUP’ for £11,200 the day before his team played their semi final against the competition favourites, Chelsea. "I’m hoping to turn up to the FA Cup final with this number on my car," Carl stated.
The youngest winner at the auction was six month old baby Devon Lalani, whose parents, Phil and Katrina bid £10,000 for the number ‘D3 VON’. "Well we’ve got his 18th birthday present sorted. We’ve just got the other 17 to worry about now," said father, Phil.
The 101st DVLA auction of personalised registrations will be held at Tankersley Manor, Barnsley, South Yorkshire on 27th, 28th and 29th June.
