NH1 plate may be worth £250,000
CASH-STRAPPED Northampton Borough Council is being urged to sell the Mayoral car's official number plate, which could be worth up to a quarter of a million pounds.
The Chronicle & Echo consulted three number plate experts who estimated the NH1 plate would be worth between 200,000 and 250,000 to the council's coffers.
The beleaguered local authority recently proposed 3.1 million cuts to services, including the closure of Lings leisure centre, reducing its funding to the Royal & Derngate theatres and scaling down street-sweeping and graffiti removal.
If Lings leisure centre was to close, it would save the authority 150,000, and if the town's 16 public toilets were also to close, the saving would be 200,000.
Martin McLaughlin, owner of Motormarks, said the number plate was issued to the borough council in 1904, free of charge. He said he sold 1NH for 40,000 five years ago, and number plates of this type had at least quadrupled in value since then. He said the NH1 number plate could be worth anything up to 250,000.
Alanda Downey, of speedyreg.co.uk, said: "NH1 is a particularly old number plate and is worth a small fortune.
"It could fetch anything up to 250,000 and would be highly sought-after. There is a massive market out there for plates such as this.
"It's amazing how many people are prepared to pay this kind of money.
"Plates like this very rarely come on the market, less than once a year probably, so demand would be huge."
Rakesh Verma, managing director of Reg4vehicles.co.uk, said: "As per many councils and counties up and down the country, Mayoral cars bear many valuable plates.
"NH 1 on the open market would command a value of between 200,000 to 225,000, which is a considerable sum."
A council spokesperson said: "It has been suggested, as part of the public feedback on the budget options, that the council should consider selling off the NH1 plate on the mayoral car.
"All comments made as part of the consultation will be presented to councillors for their consideration.
"There are no official records about how the council acquired the number plate, but it is believed it was a gift to the town from Thomas Cockerill, who was mayor in 1956 to 1957.
"Estimates received by the council last year indicated that the plate would sell for 75,000 to a private buyer.
"However, the council's budgetary situation requires long-term solutions and while selling off the registration plate would bring in some revenue in the short-term, we really need to identify year-on-year savings."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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