THE numberplate is officially 100 years old this year.

The 1903 Motor Car Act, which came into force in January 1904, legally obliged car, truck and Hackney carriage owners to register their vehicles and to display registration plates. At the time, there were about 17,800 vehicles on the roads, a figure that had rocketed by nearly 180,000% to roughly 32 million by the end of 2002.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, cars have seen the biggest rise, shooting up from about 8,500 in 1904 to 28.5 million in 2002.

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