In the UK, personalised car number plates; also known as vanity number plates, prestige number plates, cherished number plates, custom number plates or simply private number plates, are regulated and often sold by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) or through an agency or private sale. The DVLA is a government body responsible for the issuing of driving licences, keeping a national database of all car registrations and the addresses of car owners, as well as road taxation record keeping.

As in the US, there are certain letter / index number combinations which are prohibited from use. Letters spelling out swear words or contentious political denotations, for example, are not allowed. The DVLA issues original personalised number plates, for a commercial fee, and also tracks the private sale/use of personalised number plates from one car owner to another or from shops or websites to car owners. It can often occur that a personalised number plate is bought online without the car owner checking the permissibility of the plate with the DVLA. This results in ownership without the right to drive with this plate.

Common types of personalised number plate are those that spell out a person’s name or place of residence. Some famous individuals have highly recognisable personalised number plates that identify them. Personalised number plates are often sold through auctions. Auctions can sell either personalised plates to be used on the road, or purely collectible plates. Collectible plates may have some historical value, especially when they were previously owned by celebrities.