Strouden: new car leaving Castlepoint

Image: © Chris Downer Taken: 1 Sep 2010

A quick opportunistic snap of a '60' registration plate on its first day of issue, while waiting for the lights to change. The current registration system sees the two-digit year being issued from 1 March to 31 August, and the two-digit year +50 issued from 1 September to the following 28 (or 29) February. The first such issue was on 1 September 2001 - thus a '51' plate (and coincidentally England's football team beat Germany on that day by the score of 5-1). The system has the capacity to remain in force until 2050, when the components could be reversed and it could go for another 50 years. The first two letters denote the area (H is for Hampshire & Dorset with the first part of the alphabet in second position the more usual seen in this area), while the last three letters are random. Here, the car is turning left out of Hamblin Way (named after a local man of eminence in the medical field, Dr. Terry Hamblin) which is the main road through the Castlepoint shopping centre. It is taking the most usual route out, with the main A3060 at the roundabout ahead, whose signage we see in the background. Traffic turning right, such as me, are going to the modern northern suburbs of town. The bus behind me, just visible in my wing mirror, is not in service but is bound for the bus depot which is in Yeomans Way, behind the shopping centre.

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