------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VEHICLE INDEX MARKS V1.1 (U.K.) ARE SOFTWARE 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The files in this archive were written by Andrew Richards and are freely distributable provided the archive remains intact and only a nominal fee is charged for its distribution. This software is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. By using it, you agree to accept the entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program. This program is PUBLIC DOMAIN, although I would appreciate a postcard from anyone who uses this software. It is nice to know if anybody does ever use or even bother to look at your software. Also if you do find this program of any use, any suggestions for its future development would be welcomed. Andrew Richards 146, Dimsdale Parade, Wolstanton, Newcastle, Staffordshire, England. The Program. Ever wondered where a particular vehicle originated from? Well now this small program allows you to trace where a vehicle was first registered. At present it only covers the U.K. but could easily be extended for other countries of the world. Thus, unfortunately if you are reading this outside of the U.K. it will be of little use to you. The idea for this program originated as a means to collate a set of data based on vehicle index marks, that had been lying around for some years, and it also provided me with an excuse to start programming again. The program is intuition friendly and as the aim of the program has been to provide a quick cross referencing method of vehicle index marks, it has been designed with simplicity in mind. For this purpose it opens a small window on the workbench. I chose this approach as its annoying to have a program that only provides you with a small amount of information taking over the entire system. Requirements. This program requires Kickstart 2.0 or above and has been tested on an A500+ and an A1200. However, it has been written to,be as system friendly as possible and so should be o.k. on all Amiga's. Using the Program. On running the program, a small window will open displaying three lines of information. The top box is the Input box where you enter the vehicle index for identification. After this has been entered, the program acknowledges your entered index on line 2 and details the place of first registration in the lowest most box. What are INDEX marks ? Index marks are made up of one two or three letters. When councils had exhausted all available one and two letter marks, followed by numbers 1 to 9999 three letter marks were allocated to them. These were formed by the addition of a prefix letter to the councils existing two letter mark and were followed by the figures 1 to 999. When councils exhausted their allocation of marks with the numbers following the letters the marks were reversed, the numbers then preceding the letters. This system allowed a maximum number of symbols in an individual registration of six. By 1963 a few councils were still using their original two letter marks followed by figures. However, some councils had exhausted all their available marks both with figures following and preceding the letters. Therefore, the system was modified and a year letter was introduced to denote the year the vehicle was registered. This gave marks with a maximum of seven symbols. In this system only three letter marks are used, initially followed by three numbers and suffixed for example by the letter A. For example "BPT 123 A".In such a case the letter "A" denotes registration in the year 1963, with successive years indicated by other letters of the alphabet used in order, excluding the letters I,O,Q, and Z. After all the year letters had been used, the order of symbols was reversed as seen on today's newer cars. For example, "L 123 BPT", denoting registration in the year from August 1, 1993 to July 31, 1994. In the Republic of Ireland, registration marks were introduced before the creation of the Republic and they have since continued with the same system. Northern Ireland did not adopt the more recent system, the addition of year letters and instead extended the numbers to 9999 with three index letters. Notes: -Three letter marks in the XA-XY series allotted to the Greater London Council have been used under special arrangement to provide a three letter mark for any new authority. The GLC will not use them with the year letter. Thus Kirkcaldy shares the XA series, Coatbridge XB, Solihull XC, Luton XD and XE, and Torbay the XF series with the GLC. -The letter I as part of the identifying mark generally indicates a vehicle registered in the Republic of Ireland, and the letter Z signifies registration in Northern Ireland. Exceptions: -The index marks GPO and USN have been alloted to the Greater London Council. -In the BF series only CBF to HBF, JBF to PBF, and VBF to YBF have been allotted to the Staffordshire County Council. -In the WC series only BWC to HWC, JWC o PWC, RWC to TWC, and VWC to YWC have been allotted to the Essex County Council. -The letters MN with prefixes have not been alloted to registration and licensing authorities to avoid any confusion with Isle of Man registrations. Also, the mark MAN has not been allotted to the Greater London Council. SO to use the program all you need to enter is the last two letters of the vehicle index mark. For example, if a registration was A 123 BPT then all you need to enter are the two letters "PT" for an identification. This would give an answer of "Durham (County)". If a registration was "H 432 GEH", then the two letters to be entered would be "EH", giving an answer of "Stoke-on-Trent". Only the two key identifying letters are required for identification of vehicle origin as the third letter is merely a prefix used by the licensing authorities to accomodate the increasing numbers of cars registering each year. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- History: V1.0 Unreleased. V1.1 Database access time improved. Front end improved. Released onto Aminet.