Find bike registration details from a frame number

[dennis.t]

Oh well at least I asked the question. Thanks for all the replies.
Dennis

[will_curry]

Don't give up yet:

MONMOUTH
Gwent Archives, Steelworks Road, Ebbw Vale, NP23 6DN (01495 353363). E-mail: enquiries@gwentarchives.gov.uk

Information from https://kitheadtrust.org.uk/england-wales

[dennis.t]

Will,
Interesting, many thanks,
Dennis

[JohnnyBeckett]

that is very handy to know and keep

[GuyH]

I was lucky and managed to do this some years ago with my 1939 Square Four. I first got a dating certificate from the club which showed me the bike was despatched to Bryants of Biggleswade and the date. I then went to the archives in Bedford where the extremely helpful staff produced the registration number allocation books. Back in the day, dealers would ask the local authority to allocate numbers for the new bikes they had taken delivery of that week. The books recorded the dealer, the make of bike, the registration number and the date of allocation. We were able to look at the approximate date of despatch and saw half a dozen numbers were issued to Bryants in that week. One was for an Ariel Square Four. The staff then hunted through the vehicle record cards. These were cards produced by the authorities when they destroyed paper vehicle records in the 1970s recording the registration number, frame number and keeper details. The frame number on the card matched my frame number thus providing a link between my frame and registration number. The official copy of the record card given to me by the archive enabled me to get the number back. I don't know who was happier, me or the archive staff! Obviously I was lucky in that everything fell into place but if it worked for me, it could be worth a go.

[charles.bulloch]

If you know the original registration but have no record, why can't you have it as a vanity plate?

[dennis.t]

This thread is quite long now so for information I do not know the original registration. Regarding contacting the registration authority archives, I am some way off completing the restoration so I will wait until the bike is complete in case I need to re-register it with the help of the club. I asked the question in case anyone had been successful finding their bike's original registration using the frame number.
Dennis

[paul.jameson]

It does happen, from time to time, that someone gets the original registration number back by means of the frame number. I managed it for Geoff Brown some years ago via the Cheshire Archives but DVLA wouldn't accept that particular approach these days. Richard Thomasson got his original number back but his bike went to Kings of Oxford (see my previous post on the subject). I found the registration number for Len Ore's bike quoted in the Despatch Book which was massively unusual so he got his original number back.

Last year I tried to get the original number back for my ex ISDT KHA. Without going into full detail, I had a case put together which would have convinced any court in the land. But because I didn't have a piece of paper with frame and registration number together on it DVLA refused and I had to have an age-related number. So I ride the bike with the age-related number on the back and the original number on the front number plate. Front number plates are not compulsory in the UK.

[Roger Gwynn]

I was once stopped by the police and asked which of the 3 numbers on my bike was the correct one ARI 222, KCH 500 or CRG 531, I replied the one on the only legally required number plate...

[dennis.t]

Roger, nice one!
I read with interest the topic in the Ariel section about factory despatch records and your endeavours to link that to frame numbers. Given that some bikes were pre-registered by the dealers it might be the case that my 1956 NH350 was pre-registered. If you have the time would you please check if my frame number PR2754 is on your list?
Many thanks, Dennis