This little book could have been so much better. For example, while I object to anything related to HM Armed Forces being placed under a heading like "Curiosities and eccentricities", the author devotes just four lines and one word on the fifth line to "Military vehicles"; for a start, the paragraph should be headed "Naval and Military Vehicles", and he should have explained the different vehicle registration systems used in each of the three services and the Royal Marines - my principal was 4th Sea Lord and, in the 1989s, his staff car was 00RN04 (but that system has, sadly and unnecessarily, changed since).

Also, something about the bulk issue of number plates to transport fleets, such as London Transport (LT), would have been interesting - e.g. LLU501-LLU999 were allocated by LT to a variety of it passenger and utility vehicles + VLT5-VLT300 and WLT301-WLT999 were issued to Routemaster buses RM5 to RM999.

The author mentions Great Yarmouth and its EX letters, but it's a pity that no mention was made of the fun newspaper headline every so often - 'No SEX for Great Yarmouth motorists- as the Council again and again refused to issue the letters SEX. No mention is made of incorrectly spaced or shaped letters and numbers, an illegal practice, but there no doubt that the number plate 505EXY is more fun to see when incorrectly displayed on the vehicle as 50 5EXY!

It's a pity that space was not found for an Index. It's not a bad little book, it just could have been so much better. ( )