standard number plates with unintended messages

Since NZ's standard car number plate series recommenced in 2001 with three letters followed by three numerals there have been a few which have not been issued because the 3 letters may give a potentially offense-causing message.  The series is now into the Gs.

This one apparently was OK, but the person who got it wasn't pleased: it suggests the driver is homosexual and adventurous in the boudoir.

Miffed, he called the New Zealand Transport Agency within days to seek a new one. “I’m definitely not homophobic, I just want another plate.” When he called NZTA, he was told the numbers could be changed for something less suggestive than “69″ at no cost but changing the letters would be a different story. “The person I spoke to said: ‘Oh just hold the line, I’ll be putting you on to our senior adviser’. In a minute or two of waiting, they came on and there was a bit of a chuckle in their voices. The guy said ‘I can change the numbers for you but it’s still going to be GAY’.”

He checked online to see if the registration number “GAY69″ was acceptable enough to be issued through plates.co.nz. The reply: “Oops! we can’t sell this one. Have another go … because we have a high public profile, we are required by the government not to sell plates that could cause offense to the wider public community.”

Grant Giller of plates.co.nz seemed surprised by the message. He said the website had issued the plates GAY1 and GAY.

NZTA spokesperson Andy Knackstedt said new registrations being issued at the moment all started with the letters GAY. One thousand of each letter series were issued and the current series was up to about 700. He said the agency had received a few dozen requests from motorists for a different letter series. While some series such as “FAG” and “FKN” were skipped “due to the potential for offensiveness”, GAY was not considered offensive. He said choosing to not issue the series could also be deemed offensive or discriminatory. “We acknowledge this is quite subjective. Some people may not want that series, but there’s a lot of people who equally would like it.”

NZTA allows motorists to change their registration plates to another series of letters and numbers for a small fee of $14.