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Welcome to my fotopic site which I hope you will find interesting.
I have had an interest in registration numbers for over 50 years. It all started because I was a bus enthusiast and it was natural to record both fleet numbers and registration numbers.
I started following Canadian licence plates after I moved to Canada in 1973.
I have developed an interest in registration / licence plates worldwide. I am a member of Europlates and the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association.
This fotopic gallery complements two yahoo groups that specialise in registration and licence plates. They can be located at either Registration-Plates-GB or
Ontario-Licence-Plate-Numbers (followed by @yahoogroups.com).
I am based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
e-mail - paul.bateson@rogers.com
Telephone - (905) 458-8059 |
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The photographs appearing in the "Registration Plates" fotopic site have been taken by Paul Bateson unless stated.
Sincere thanks is passed on to David Ballantine for contributing several photographs to this fotopic site.
Further information about registration number plates can be found by searching yahoo groups. |
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Score: 10.0 (2 votes)
Score: 5.5 (2 votes)
Score: 10.0 (1 votes)
Score: 10.0 (1 votes)
Score: 10.0 (1 votes)
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| Hits (today): | 11 |
| Hits (this week): | 31 |
| Hits (this month): | 52 |
| Hits (this year): | 549 |
| Hits (all-time): | 1027 |
| Collections: | 8 |
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| | Great Britain Part 2 (2 images)
This is part 2 of the photographic review of the Great British registration number which covers the early plates with two letters and up to four numbers. (Part 1 will be created when I see anything with a single letter followed by a number!)
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| | Great Britain Part 3 (39 images)
The Great British registration number moved on to the three letters and up to three numbers after two letter format was exhausted.
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 | | Great Britain Part 4 (1 images)
The early reversed registrations included single letters such as E issued by Staffordshire. These registrations were not too common but are collector items today.
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 | | Great Britain Part 6 (11 images)
During the 1950s and 1960s the reversed registration numbers with three letters were very common. This collection includes a varied selection which are sorted in number order.
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 | | Great Britain Part 7 (34 images)
The year suffix first appeared in 1963 with the letter "A" and the conversion for all issuing authorities was completed with the letter "C" in 1965. Since then many year related combinations not previously issued have appeared. A particular irritant for me is the illegal displays that appear on a lot of vehicles including buses and coaches as will be seen in this collection.
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 | | Great Britain Part 8 (48 images)
The year prefix letter "A" appeared on 1st. September 1983. The series continued through to the letter "Y" until 31st. August 2001. This collection contains some varied examples including creative cherised numbers.
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 | | Great Britain Part 9 (53 images)
It was all change in September 2001 when the well established number plate format changed to a consistent seven digit format containing a two letter area identifier, date code and three random letters. The date code is the last two digits of the year for the period from 1st. March to 31st. August and the year plus 50 for the period from 1st. September to 28th. or 29th. February. It has taken me a while to become accustomed to the new system but it is noticeable how the previously issued number plates seem to be a lot rarer. Inevitably the system has been manipulated to create various cherished or vanity plate combinations.
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 | | Great Britain Part 10 (1 images)
A number of people and organisations have resorted to the plates issued in Northern Ireland as a source of dateless registration number plates. The system in Northern Ireland comprises three letters and up to four numbers. Year identifiers have never been used.
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I was born in Erdington, in the County Borough of Birmingham, and lived in Sutton Coldfield. We lived in various parts of England after the war. My passion for buses started when we lived in Gravesend which in those days was served by London Transport and Maidstone and District. We moved to Hexham, Northumberland, in April 1951, and I became an adopted Geordie. My education continued at The Sele School, Hexham. I passed the 11 plus examination and my schooling continued at The Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Hexham.
My love for buses had started when I was seven years old. I studied the subject so much that my parents were of the view that I would become a genius if I would spend as much time concentrating on my education as I did on the buses!
I must share this amusing story. The Bristol Lodekka was the standard low height bus for the state owned bus companies and could not be purchased by anyone else. Around 1955, I cannot remember the exact year, Dennis Brothers Ltd. of Guildford, Surrey arranged to build their version of the Lodekka under llicence. This model was to be called "The Dennis Loline".
I wrote to Dennis in praise of this bus and requested a brochure. I was not prepared for the response. One day there was a knock at the front door of our house in Hexham and my mother responded.
"Is Mr. Bateson in, please? " the caller enquired.
"No, my husband is expected home shortly for lunch. May I ask what it is about?" my mother replied.
The caller went on to explain that he was looking for the Bateson family who ran buses as his company had received a very nice complimentary letter about their bus and a request for more information.
"Oh! That's my son you need to see. He is not home from school yet!!" my mother explained.
Needless to say, the representative from Dennis was none too pleased having travelled up the Tyne Valley to Hexham for nothing. That was the one and only time I wrote to a manufacturer for information.
I started my working life on 16th. September 1957 with Barclays Bank (Horsham, Crawley and Hexham) but I always wanted to work on the buses.
My career in the bus and coach industry started in April 1962 when I left the family home in Hexham to start a new life in Leeds. I joined Wallace Arnold Tours in their Traffic Department. Their Head Office was at 21, The Calls and there was a small traffic office at the Hunslet Road garage where I was based. This was an interesting experience. Most of the coach drivers were assigned their regular coach. I recall one driver who was going on days off that told me in no uncertain terms not to give his coach out to another driver as he had spent hours cleaning and polishing the vehicle! Operations later moved to an old Leeds City Transport bus garage on Donisthorpe Street in a rather derelict area of the city. This brought all the traffic office functions together.
Southend Corporation Transport regularly advertised during the 1960s for traffic office staff. I joined SCT in October 1963 as a Traffic Clerk. I was promoted to Senior General Assistant (Traffic) in February 1965. It was mandatory for me to obtain a conductor's licence and then graduate to a P.S.V. driver's licence so that I could fill in during the many periods of acute staff shortage. The Traffic Superintendent was an enthusiast and, generally speaking, he hired enthusiasts to work in the Traffic Office. It is all in the past now as SCT no longer exists! I have vivid memories of the traffic congestion during the Illuminations, flooding at Hawkwell Railway Bridge, delays with summer traffic coming off Canvey Island, the famous 1967 strike and so on. I worked very long hours, usually doing some driving and conducting in the evening after my regular shift, as the policy was that every bus had to operate. No cancellation of service was permitted! I stayed until August 1969 but I had become burnt out with the long hours.
A brief spell followed with the Midland Bank at Heathrow Airport from August 1969 to December 1972.
I emigrated to Canada in January 1973. I joined Voyageur Colonial as an Operations Supervisor in Toronto. This company, based in Ottawa, operated inter city services throughout eastern Ontario as well as a charter coach operation. The Province of Quebec was served by Voyageur Inc. based in Montreal. I transferred to the Traffic Department in Ottawa in 1976. I was promoted to Operations Manager in Kingston in February 1978. I became Regional Operations Manager in Toronto in March 1981 until I left the company in December 1983.
January 1984 saw my return to England when I was appointed Traffic Manager, Grey-Green Coaches, Stamford Hill, London. This old and well known company operated the long established East Anglian Express services (EAX), extensive commuter services from Essex and Kent into London, services to Europe and an important private hire department. Double deck coaches arrived in 1984 when a Plaxton 4000 was purchased. Fleet identification was by the registration number but I was of the opinion that the double deckers should have a different series so I introduced 101 upwards for this type. I did not realise how important this feature would become as Grey-Green started operating London bus routes under contract with a large fleet of double decker buses a few years later. The company withdrew from EAX in 1985 and the nature of its operations changed rapidly in 1986. I decided to return to Canada in May 1986. (It is interesting to note that Grey Green through its owners, T. Cowie plc, subsequently gained London bus routes, purchased bus companies which were privatised and eventually reorganised and changed its name to "Arriva".)
My career started over again as a temporary driver with Brampton Transit from June to September 1986. A few months followed with Simcoe Coach Lines, Sutton West, Ontario. I was recalled by Brampton Transit for another spell of temporary bus driving in April 1987. I was appointed to the position of Transit Co-ordinator in October 1987. I enjoyed many years contributing a lot of ideas on how to improve Brampton Transit. My legacy is the Route Description Handbook which has become so useful for new employees. I enjoyed the people with whom I worked. I established a pleasant working environment. There is no doubt in my mind that dealing with everyone in a professional and pleasant manner is very important. It worked well for me and I appreciated the great working relationships that resulted. I reached the (then) mandatory retirement age on 18th. March 2006. A grand total of 40 years 6 months on the buses had come to a close.
I have been very fortunate to have had a job and a hobby that went together. The bus hobby may seem strange to many people but it has kept me fully occupied and still does in my retirement years. In 2006 and 2007 I drove a former Ipswich Buses Leyland Atlantean (SDX 31R) on the shuttle bus service at The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario. I was scheduled to do the same work in 2008 but the operators of this shuttle service, The Double Decker Bus Co., went into retirement and the new owner failed to gain the appropriate approval to continue.
This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I now drive for Double Deck Tours Limited in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I have known this company for 36 years and I have always admired their large fleet of former London Transport double decker buses. The company owns and operates 14 RM, 2 RCL, 3 RML buses and one Routemaster service vehicle (RMB) which makes them the world's largest operator of Routemaster buses. It is a very well run company with the buses maintained to a very high standard. I have had so much enjoyment working for Double Deck and driving their buses that it has taken 25 years off my life. Long may this continue.
I love travelling. I have had cruises to the Caribbean, Falkland Islands and the Antartica. In October 2008 I visited Vancouver (new trolleybuses), San Diego (APTA's Expo) and Las Vegas (130 Enviro 500 with RTC). I sailed on the Queen Mary 2 on 19th. December 2008 for a cruise around the Caribbean. I transferred to the Ruby Princess on 3rd. January 2009 for another Caribbean cruise.
I flew to England on 10th. March 2009 for five weeks. During that time I accompanied a group of bus historians for an eight day trip to Malta. On 24th. August 2009 I will be boarding the Crown Princess for a 40 day cruise from Southampton, round Britain, north through Europe, then via Iceland and Greenland to New York and eventually disembarking at Quebec City. To finish the year, I will be on board the Grand Princess for a 25 day Christmas and New Year cruise through the Caribbean. I love retirement and the great people that I meet on the various cruises.
I am interested in buses worldwide but my prime objective is to find and record as many British built buses that are now in Canada. I run several yahoo groups and fotopic sites under the general title of "British Buses Abroad". Please check the other galleries / links miniboxes on this fotopic page for further details.
I have become editor of a new magazine called "British Buses Abroad" which is published by the Buses Worldwide Association. The first issue was published in April 2009 and I am pleased to say that it was very well received with nearly 200 subscribers. The magazine has become a quarterly publication starting in September 2009.
Please enjoy my fotopic pages and visit regularly.
| Location: | Brampton, Ontario |
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