£200,000 on a plate - but council refuses to cash in
POLITICIANS are known to guard fiercely the perks of high office. So, it should come as no surprise that the Provost of Perth and Kinross is rejecting calls to sell the number plate of his official car to raise money for council funds.

Bob Scott, who uses the gold Jaguar XJ8, registration number ES1, for council duties, said there would be "an uprising" among the public if the historic plate was sold off.

Margo Lennie, an opposition Labour councillor, started the furore by suggesting the number plate, which was gifted to the local council decades ago, should be sold off to help cut council tax bills.

She hit on the idea after a mystery bidder fought off fierce competition and paid £220,000 when GS1, another historic Perthshire number, went under the hammer last month. It had belonged to its late owner since 1927 and was sold by Loves Auction Rooms in Perth.

It was the second-highest price paid for a private registration number in the UK - the record is held by KI NGS, which was sold for £235,000 in 1993.

Last night, Provost Scott said that disposing of ES1 would be like "selling off the family silver" and insisted the historic plate was remaining where it was - on the council car. "ES1 is definitely not for sale," he said.

Mr Scott went on: "I was surprised at the sum which the GS1 number plate fetched when it came up for auction. I have always been aware that the official council number plate, ES1, would have a considerable value - possibly in excess of the value of the official car - but not to the extent that recent developments have suggested.

"However, this number is very much part of the tradition and civic fabric of the council, where it will remain. There would be an uprising if it was sold."

Ms Lennie was not available for comment yesterday. However, Archie MacLellan, the Labour group leader on the council, played down the controversy, suggesting that his colleague had been making a tongue-in-cheek remark and that the matter had got out of control.

He said selling the plate would not greatly benefit council tax payers. "If we assume ES1 was sold for £220,000, the same amount as GS1, that would only relate to a one-off council tax reduction of one tenth of one per cent, averaging £3 for a single year," he said. "We really have to look at the prestige gain, which is much more important. ES1 has been identified with the council for so long that we would have to oppose any questionable short-term gain that could be made by selling it."

Russell Palmer, the general manager of www.PERSONALLYYOURS.co.uk Personally Yours, of Wolverhampton, one of the UK's leading private registration plate dealers, supported the council's decision not to sell.

"That type of early number plate is a safe investment. It is far better than property, as it has absolutely no maintenance costs and, unlike a car, it will always make a profit," he said.

Mr Palmer said the demand for personalised number plates had increased since the early 1990s when auctions became more widespread.

"The most prestigious numbers are bought by wealthy individuals, such as footballers and businessmen, or are snapped up by companies who are able to pay well over the odds. They then tend to go out of circulation for ever and rarely reappear for dealers to sell on," he said.

"The general public can pick up a special number for around a couple of hundred pounds. They can also try the auctions, which are held about five times a year to sell numbers which have never been issued."

A spokeswoman for the said: "ES and GS are original Perthshire registrations. The recent £220,000 sale provides a benchmark for the potential value of the council's registration. There may be other local authorities with valuable plates."

Those councils include Glasgow, which has G0 and V0 on its black Jaguars, and Edinburgh, which has a Lexus with S0 and a Mercedes Benz V-class people-carrier with SS10. Michael Savory, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, has a 1950s Rolls-Royce Phantom with LM0, while his official dual-action gas- and petrol-powered red taxi has T12GAS.

By: SHAN ROSS -- 02-Aug-05