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Why was my cherished number plate withheld and later advertised for sale?

My query relates to a cherished number plate which my son had on his car from 2003 until 2005, when he had an accident. The car was deemed to be a write-off and the plate was transferred to his replacement car. He later acquired a new car and applied to have the plate transferred, and was advised by DVLA that he had been using this plate illegally for two years and that he could not transfer his cherished number.

We eventually accepted the situation, but recently I received a text from a registration transfer company advising that the same number was now available to purchase. Can these people do this or do I still have ownership of this number? I still have the invoice from when we originally bought the registration.

Asked on 2 November 2012 by TM, Ravenshead

Answered by Honest John
You lost 'lesseeship' of the registration when the car was written off. You cannot transfer a registration from a write-off to a retention certificate, or to another car. It needed to be transferred before the car was written off. The DVLA will have taken it back and re-sold the right to use it.
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