Title
Registers of Motor Cars and Motor Cycles
The following car licence registration index letters were allocated to the Bedfordshire County Council as the licensing authority:
BM relates to vehicles registered from 1903 - 1921, and runs from BM 1 - 9999.
NM relates to vehicles registered from 1921 - 1927, and runs from NM 1 - 9999.
TM relates to vehicles registered from 1927 - 1932, and runs from NM 1 - 9999.
MJ relates to vehicles registered from 1932 - 1936, and runs from MJ 1 - 9999.
At this point the initial letter 'A' was introduced, and the registration letters become, in sequence
ABM 1 - 999
ANM 1 - 999
ATM 1 - 999
AMJ 1 - 999.
'A' was followed by the initial letter 'B', and the next series of registration letters were:
BBM 1 - 999
BNM 1 - 999
BTM 1 - 999
BMJ 1 - 999.
The initial letter then changed to 'C', then 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', and so on through the alphabet. When the preceding letter of MJ reaches the magical 999, e.g. DMJ 999, you move to the next letter plus BM, thus EBM 1; and GMJ 999 is followed by HBM 1. This system carries logically on with three exceptions which avoid confusions. There are no prefix letters I, Q or Z, and so the last Bedfordshire number in this series in YMJ 999.
Licence Registration Index Cards [TLA 83-85 below] end at NBM 999 - car of this vintage were first registered in the summer of 1954.
This means that we cannot answer questions relating to NNM 1 and beyond, except where the licence numbers were transferred to Luton, but these Luton registers are very scrappy.
For the record, when YMJ 999 was reached, the initial letters were then placed after the figures: 1 ABM to 999 ABM, 1 ANM to 999 ANM, 1 ATM to 999 ATM, 1 AMJ to 999 AMJ, 1 BBM to 999 BBM, and so on. When 999 YMJ was reached, a year letter was added. These year letters began in large populated areas with 'A' in 1963, but it is believed that the first letter to be added to Bedfordshire number plates was 'C' in 1965, when the sequence would have commenced ABM 1 C. These yearly letters went from January to December until 1967, when they were changed to run from 1st August to 31 July. 'F' therefore ran only from 1 January to 31 July 1968, and 'G' from 1 August 1968 to 31 July 1969.
In August 1983 it is proposed to change the system so that the yearly letter will be placed first, followed by the number, and then the three letters, e.g. A 123 ABM.
The best documents to consult to trace the history of a car with a BM registration number are the registers in TLI. Where a car has been transferred, it retains its original number, and can be found, re-registered in red ink, in the following pages, e.g. BM 16, a 'Barrett motorcycle, registered to a Luton owner on 18 Dec 1903; is re-registered to a Chippenham owner 20 Apr 1905; re-registered to a London man 10 Feb 1906; re-registered to a Wimbledon cycle maker on 1 Jan 1908; and nothing further is recorded about it. Other licences are cancelled, and the numbers reissued, e.g., W.H.Allen of Bromham House, licensed an 'Electric Carriage' of the Indiana Bicycle Co., Indianapolis - BM 27 - on 18 Dec 1903. This was cancelled on 11 Sept 1907, and the number reissued to him for a 14 HP petrol car 'Vulcan' on that date. It was again cancelled in favour of a 16 HP 'Vulcan' on 25 Sep 1912, and finally cancelled on 16 Apr 1920, and the number 'resd. for W.H.Allen'.
N.B. The books do not give vital details such as chassis and engine numbers, which the original application forms [TLA] and the index cards do.