What do the letters on a UK number plate mean?

A standard UK plate reads as two letters, two digits, then three letters - for example AB12 CDE. Each part means something different.

The first two letters are the "local memory tag", which roughly indicates the regional office the car was first registered through - often reflecting where the dealer was based, not where the current owner lives. The two digits are the age identifier, covered in the "how do I tell what year a car is" entry. The final three letters are random, added purely to make the combination unique - they don't mean anything.

Because the local memory tag reflects the original point of registration rather than the current owner, seeing a plate that looks "out of area" for where a car is being sold isn't unusual or a sign of anything wrong on its own.