THE latest list of number plates to be banned by the DVLA for being “too rude” has been revealed.
Motorists need to be aware of those not permitted as they could land you in hot water and slapped with a £1,000 fine.
More than 400 plates have been hit as they include combinations that resemble homophobic, transphobic, racist or otherwise offensive terms.
Following a Freedom of Information request by personalised plate supplier Regtransfers the DVLA have released the full list of number plates set to be banned from the first registration series to be issued in 2026.
A number of problematic combinations appears, from explicit entries like FU26 KER, AS26 HOL and SC26 TUM to slurs like TR26 NNY, LE26 ZER and FA26 OTT.
Violence, war and other political matters also feature in the list, with TE26 ROR and GO26 WAR appearing, as well as JE26 HAD – which reads similarly to “Jihad”.
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The new ’26’ registrations will arrive on the UK’s roads from 1st March, but character combinations considered offensive, provocative or otherwise unsuitable for release are being withheld by the DVLA.
This is standard practice for each release; in September 2024, 210 character combinations were banned from the ’25’ plates, and earlier this year 436 combinations were confirmed as withheld from the forthcoming ’76’ release.
Banned combinations typically contain references to crime, violence, religion, sex, sexual and gender identity, weapons, insults, racism, sexism and more.
As in previous years, plates with featuring both UKR and RUS combinations have been banned, as well as a number of *26 OMB (“bomb”) variants.
In general, the DVLA will err on the side of caution; the potential meaning behind a plate doesn’t need to be obvious in order to be banned – even a slight resemblance to an offensive term may be enough to trigger removal from a series.
Driving with a non-compliant licence plate can land you with a fine of up to £1,000 and your car could fail its MOT, according to the Royal Automobile Association (RAC).
Recent figures show that 13,720 drivers were stopped by police for having illegal number plates, the RAC has also said.
Regtransfers boss Mark Trimbee said: “Out of professional curiosity, we’ve been keeping an eye on the DVLA’s banned plate combinations, and while each new list contains an expected range of rude words, body parts and so on, there are also particular censored combinations that can be quite telling of the current sociopolitical climate.
“Number plates aren’t deliberately arranged to spell out words, but the human brain has a particular knack for pattern recognition.
“This is what makes certain plate combinations fun, appealing and valuable, but it’s also why a random mix of characters can appear offensive – extremely so in some cases – and why the DVLA will likely always have to work to censor certain arrangements.
“Some might see it as unnecessary overkill, others will see it as a necessity to safeguard communities.
“Ultimately, as with each new release, there will still be plenty of great combinations to look out for on the UK’s roads.”