Car registrations

[Chambersgang]

Which country was the first to use number plates on cars?

[homer]

According to experts 'Europlate' there are two problems in defining the the world's first registration plate - first, defining what constitutes a registration plate and secondly, the difficulty in getting information about territories, some of which no longer exist, and in many of which records have been lost or destroyed in various conflicts. Shortly after the invention of the motor car came the need to record the existence of, and permit the use of, these vehicles on the public road. The first known permit was issued in Paris in April 1891. By 1893 Paris had issued a Police Ordinance requiring the driver to display a plate containing a distinctive number; this was frequently attached to the dashboard. From 1894 drivers in car rallies started to carry externally displayed numbers, but such usage was, of course, only transitory. From 1895 vehicles in Hungary were required to be registered, but the owner made up his own plate using any name of his fancy as the registration (the first personalized plates?). Luxembourg is reported to have issued the number 1 in August 1895 to a Benz, but it is not clear if this was displayed as a registration plate. In 1896 the state of Baden in Germany started issuing registration plates. In 1899 the Netherlands started issuing a simple numeric registration, possibly the first national issue on record. In October 1900 PM-1 was issued in Palma de Mallorca, the forerunner of the national Spanish system. This is the oldest system continuously in use, such that the original plates could still legally be on the roads. Britain's first driving licences were issued in August 1903.