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Northern Ireland Office;Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland

Answer

Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will make a statement on the issue of age-related registration numbers for (a) vintage cars and (b) other vintage vehicles. [32062] Mr. Paul Murphy: Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland under its chief executive, Mr. Brendan Magee. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Brendan Magee to Mr. David Trimble, dated 2 March 1998: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me to reply to your question about the issue of age-related registration marks for vintage cars and other vintage vehicles. In Northern Ireland, registration marks are not directly age related and historically all registration series were used to exhaustion. As a result there is an extremely limited supply of old marks available. For some years there are no marks at all left and for others only a handful. The policy has been developed of saving old registration marks for vehicles of real historical significance such as very rare models, prototypes or vehicles associated with a particular event. Other vehicles have to be registered with a registration mark from a current series, of course if the registration of the vehicle is known and the applicant can satisfy DVLNI as to the identity of the vehicle, the old registration mark is restored. A meeting has been arranged with the office holders of the Association of Old Vehicles Clubs NI Ltd. on 8 March to discuss ways of dealing with their concerns.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

32062; 307 c527W

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Motor vehicles Northern Ireland Registration Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland