Vehicle registration plates of Northern Ireland


Vehicle registration plates in Northern Ireland use a modified version of the national registration plate system initiated for the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1903, with two-letter county and city codes featuring the letters I or Z representing Ireland. As of 2002 there were reportedly 794,477 recorded registration plates in Northern Ireland, compared to 50 for the island as a whole when the format was first introduced in 1903.
The full list of codes used in Northern Ireland appears below.

Format

As in Great Britain, each code originally ran from 1 to 9999, and when one was completed, another was allocated. All possible codes had been allocated by 1957, following which reversed sequences were introduced, the first county to do so being Antrim in January 1958 with 1 IA. These reversed sequences were completed quickly, leading to the introduction of the current "AXX 1234" format in January 1966, where "XX" is the county code and "A" is a serial letter. This format allowed capacity to be increased. Each county adopted it once they had completed their reversed sequences, the last one to do so being County Londonderry in October 1973 with AIW 1. From November 1985, the first 100 numbers of each series were withheld for use as cherished registrations. From April 1989, the numbers 101-999 were also withheld in this way. Even multiples of 1000 and 1111 are deemed cherished by the DVLA and thus withheld. Each series ends at 9998 and follows on to the next letter/number combination in the series.

European Union symbol

Some UK number plates have conformed to the 1998 European standard design, with black lettering on a white or yellow background. The standard design have also incorporated a blue strip on the left side of the plate with the European Union symbol and the country identification code of the member state, although this aspect of the design is not compulsory. EU member states that require foreign vehicles to display a distinguishing sign of the country of origin are obliged by Article 3 of EU Regulation No. 2411/98 to accept this standard design as a distinguishing sign when displayed on a vehicle registered in another member state, making a separate sign unnecessary for vehicles registered in the EU.
While motorists with vehicles registered in Great Britain are permitted by the DVLA to use number plates carrying Euro-style bands with UK national flags and country codes, officially only the European Union symbol and the "GB" country code are specified in Northern Ireland. The Road Vehicles Regulations 2009 state that "Paragraph does not apply— if the relevant vehicle is recorded in the part of the register relating to Northern Ireland." Paragraph four reads "Subject to paragraphs to, there may be displayed on a plate or other device an arrangement of letters corresponding with one of the sub-paragraphs of paragraph and an emblem corresponding with one of the sub-paragraphs of paragraph ".

Administration

The administrative counties of Northern Ireland were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972, and their responsibility for issuing registrations was transferred to the NI Ministry of Home Affairs, and later the Department of the Environment NI. The former vehicle section in the county town of each local authority became a "local office" of the relevant departmental agency, formerly Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland and latterly the Driver and Vehicle Agency in Coleraine.
From 21 July 2014, vehicle registration in Northern Ireland became the responsibility of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency DVLA in Swansea, which also administers the system used in Great Britain. The pre-1972 format of Northern Ireland registration plates continues unchanged in Northern Ireland.

County codes in alphabetical order

All the codes from IA to IZ, and from AI to WI, were allocated throughout the island of Ireland in 1903, in alphabetical order of counties and then of county boroughs. Hence, Antrim was allocated IA and Armagh IB, while County Dublin, now in the Republic of Ireland, was allocated IK, in between IJ for Down and IL for Fermanagh. Shortly before the partition of Ireland in 1922, Belfast completed OI and was thus allocated the next available code, XI, while YI and then ZI were allocated to Dublin City. After the partition, all codes with Z as the first letter were allocated in the Republic of Ireland, while all codes with Z as the second letter were allocated in Northern Ireland.
CodeCounty or CityCodeCounty or CityCodeCounty or City
AZBelfastILFermanaghSZDown
BZDownIWCounty LondonderryTZBelfast
CZBelfastJITyroneUIDerry
DZAntrimJZDownUZBelfast
EZBelfastKZAntrimVZTyrone
FZBelfastLZArmaghWZBelfast
GZBelfastMZBelfastXIBelfast
HZTyroneNZCounty LondonderryXZArmagh
IAAntrimOIBelfastYZCounty Londonderry
IBArmaghOZBelfastQNICars with indeterminate age, kit cars.
IGFermanaghPZBelfastLTZBuses built in Northern Ireland
for Transport for London
IJDownRZAntrim

Series per administrative county / DVA licensing local office

For each DVA licensing local office the two-letter sequences are shown first, followed by the reversed two-letter sequences, then the three-letter sequences.