If you are the owner of a nursing home, live in western Stirlingshire and own a Ferrari 360, a new study suggests you almost certainly own a personalised number plate. These were the occupation, location and vehicle revealed to have the highest percentage of personalised number plates in research of over 1.5million motorists by insurance expert elephant.co.uk.
Towns and villages in Scotland dominate the list of postcode areas* with the highest percentage of personalised number plates, 8 of the top 20 postcode areas are north of the border. The villages of Killearn, Strathblane and Fintry in Stirlingshire came head and shoulders above every other district in the UK. 14% of motorists there have a personalised plate, compared with a national average of around 4%.
In second place is the area including Anlaby and Kirk Ella west of Hull and third is Llangefni in Anglesey, both with around 12% of motorists owning a personalised number plate.
When it comes to the occupations, most likely to drive a car with personalised plates, nursing home owners are top of the list, 13% of them own one. They are followed by local government chief executives on 12% and haulage contractors on 11%.
Brian Martin, managing director of elephant.co.uk, said, "Personalised number plates have definitely become more popular since the DVLA made them easier to locate and buy. Some people see them as a status symbol and a way to express your individuality, we wanted to see who exactly owns them.
"Our research threw up some surprising results, it's not just people with high powered occupations, living in swanky postcode areas who own them. Occupations at the top of the list include farriers, newsagents and construction machinery operators and many of the postcode areas with the highest percentage are in rural areas; lots of these in Scotland."
Perhaps a less surprising revelation from elephant.co.uk's research is the cars most likely to have a personalised number plate. Top of the list is the Ferrari 360, 33% of them have personalised plates. In fact the top 20 list is made up entirely of luxury makes, including Mercedes, Porsche, Bentley and Jaguar.
But what about the people who avoid personalised plates? elephant.co.uk also looked at those areas, occupations and vehicles with the lowest percentage of personalised plates. The area around Grimsby docks was revealed as the area of the UK with the lowest percentage of cars with personalised number plates, newspaper photographers were the occupation at the bottom of the list whilst the Citroen BX is the vehicle least likely to have one attached to it.
According to elephant.co.uk's research, the overall percentage of people in the UK with a personalised number plate is 3.9%. It has compiled lists of the top twenty occupations and top and bottom postcode districts for private plates. These tables are below.
*elephant.co.uk looked at postcode areas, occupations and vehicles where there was a sample of at least 100 motorists.
Top 20 postcode districts
Position |
Postcode |
District |
%age of personalised
number plates |
1st |
G63 |
Fintry, Killearn & Strathblane (Stirlingshire) |
14.02 |
2nd |
HU10 |
Anlaby & Kirk Ella (west Hull) |
11.98 |
3rd |
LL77 |
Llangefni (Anglesey) |
11.88 |
4th |
BH13 |
Sandbanks & Branksome Park (Bournemouth) |
11.35 |
5th |
AB13 |
Milltimber (Aberdeenshire) |
11.27 |
6th |
DG10 |
Moffat (Dumfries and Galloway) |
11.11 |
7th |
DD1 |
Dundee City Centre |
11.04 |
8th |
DY7 |
Kinver (Staffordshire) |
10.74 |
9th |
EH34 |
Pencaitland (East Lothian) |
10.53 |
10th |
SW1X |
Belgravia (South west London) |
10.48 |
11th |
AB44 |
Macduff (Aberdeenshire) |
10.42 |
12th |
ST21 |
Eccleshall (Staffordshire) |
10.20 |
13th |
DN36 |
Holton Le Clay & North Thoresby (Lincolnshire) |
10.14 |
14th |
G77 |
Newton Mearns (East Renfrewshire) |
9.81 |
15th |
S33 |
Hope Valley (High Peak) |
9.52 |
16th |
LL31 |
Conwy & Llandudno Junction (North Wales) |
9.42 |
17th |
IV6 |
Muir of Ord (Highlands) |
9.23 |
18th |
B95 |
Henly-in-Arden (Warwickshire) |
9.20 |
19th |
SA17 |
Kidwelly (Carmarthenshire) |
9.09 |
20th |
NE43 |
Stocksfield & Painshawfield (Northumberland) |
8.94 |
Bottom 20 postcode districts
Position |
Postcode |
District |
%age of personalised
number plates |
1st |
DN31 |
West Marsh & Grimsby docks |
0.75 |
2nd |
LA7 |
Milnthorpe & Storth (Cumbria) |
0.78 |
3rd |
OL6 |
Ashton-under-Lyne (Greater Manchester) |
0.78 |
4th |
CA12 |
Keswick (Cumbria) |
0.88 |
5th |
OL15 |
Littleborough (Greater Manchester) |
0.91 |
6th |
BS49 |
Congresbury & Yatton (Somerset) |
0.98 |
7th |
MK11 |
Stony Stratford (Milton Keynes) |
1.07 |
8th |
BA16 |
Street (Somerset) |
1.10 |
9th |
M27 |
Swinton & Pendlebury (Greater Manchester) |
1.11 |
10th |
CH49 |
Greasby (Wirral) |
1.13 |
11th |
L11 |
Norris Green & Croxteth (Liverpool) |
1.13 |
12th |
S3 |
Broomhall, Burngreave & Neepsend (Sheffield) |
1.14 |
13th |
RM19 |
Purfleet (Essex) |
1.14 |
14th |
B25 |
Yardley (Birmingham) |
1.17 |
15th |
BD19 |
Cleckheaton (West Yorkshire) |
1.18 |
16th |
BB18 |
Barnoldswick (Lancashire) |
1.20 |
17th |
CA8 |
Brampton (Cumbria) |
1.21 |
18th |
M5 |
Ordsall& Weeste (Greater Manchester) |
1.23 |
19th |
M31 |
Carrington & Partington (Greater Manchester) |
1.24 |
20th |
L20 |
Bootle (Merseyside) |
1.24 |
Top 20 Occupations
Position |
Occupation |
%age of personalised
number plates |
1st |
Nursing Home Owner |
13.41 |
2nd |
Local Goverment Chief Executive |
12.20 |
3rd |
Haulage Contractor |
10.90 |
4th |
Sub-postmaster |
10.22 |
5th |
Jeweller |
10.16 |
6th |
Estate Agent |
10.00 |
7th |
Music Producer |
9.91 |
8th |
Property Developer |
9.85 |
9th |
Company Director |
9.70 |
10th |
Dental Surgeon |
9.62 |
11th |
Farrier |
9.43 |
12th |
Police Chief Inspector |
9.21 |
13th |
Cafe Proprietor |
9.21 |
14th |
Auctioneer |
9.09 |
15th |
Off Licence Manager |
9.00 |
16th |
Dentist |
8.85 |
17th |
Ship Broker |
8.83 |
18th |
Construction Machinery Operator |
8.61 |
19th |
Newsagent |
8.56 |
20th |
Shop Proprietor |
8.52 |
Bottom 20 Occupations
Position |
Occupation |
%age of personalised
number plates |
1st |
Newspaper Photographer |
0.44 |
2nd |
Croupier |
0.56 |
3rd |
Park Ranger |
0.56 |
4th |
Road Sweeper |
0.63 |
5th |
Typesetter |
0.72 |
6th |
Railway Inspector |
0.74 |
7th |
Chambermaid |
0.81 |
8th |
H.M. Tax Inspector |
0.83 |
9th |
Checkout Operator |
0.91 |
10th |
Booking Clerk |
0.94 |
11th |
Laundry Staff |
0.97 |
12th |
Matron |
1.00 |
13th |
Tool Setter |
1.00 |
14th |
Camera Operator |
1.01 |
15th |
Local Press Journalist |
1.07 |
16th |
Painter (Artist) |
1.08 |
17th |
Kitchen Staff |
1.11 |
18th |
Children's Home Manager |
1.14 |
19th |
Janitor |
1.16 |
20th |
Proof Reader |
1.18 |
Top 10 Vehicles
Position |
Make & Model |
%age of personalised
number plates |
1st |
FERRARI 360 |
33.20 |
2nd |
MERCEDES 500 |
31.46 |
3rd |
FERRARI F355 |
31.25 |
4th |
PORSCHE 944 |
29.63 |
5th |
MERCEDES S430 |
28.36 |
6th |
BMW 840 |
28.35 |
7th |
BENTLEY CONTINENTAL |
28.26 |
8th |
MERCEDES CL |
27.80 |
9th |
MERCEDES SL |
27.32 |
10th |
JAGUAR XKR |
26.85 |
Bottom 10 Vehicles
Position |
Make & Model |
%age of personalised
number plates |
1st |
CITROEN BX |
0.36 |
2nd |
SKODA FAVORIT |
0.41 |
3rd |
PEUGEOT 309 |
0.43 |
4th |
ROVER METRO |
0.51 |
5th |
DAEWOO TACUMA |
0.51 |
6th |
ROVER 114 |
0.62 |
7th |
ROVER 111 |
0.62 |
8th |
KIA MENTOR |
0.63 |
9th |
DAEWOO NEXIA |
0.67 |
10th |
FORD ORION |
0.71 |
Issue date: 08-01-09 |
