Number plate change coming into force from tomorrow

Car registration plates change twice a year, on March 1 and September 1, for newly manufactured vehicles. These changes were first brought in back in 2001.

From tomorrow (March 1) new cars registered until August 31 will have the "22" tag in their number plate. Then from September 1, all new cars will be registered with "72".This will be the case until March 2023, when new "23" number plates will come into force, followed by "73" in September 2023, and so on.  At the moment, new cars in the UK are registered with the "71" tag on their number plate to represent the latest registration change in September 2021.

It means UK plates now always read as two letters (to reference the area where the car was originally registered) followed by two numbers (used to show the age of the car) then a space and three letters, which are unique to the car.

In good news for car buyers, the incoming updated plates could result in cheaper vehicles. Car dealerships often try to get rid of their stock at discounted prices just before new number plate registrations are brought in.