Vehicle registration documents

Bedfordshire Archives Service hold many vehicle registration documents from 1903. The vehicle registration books (a one line entry) run from this date until about the mid 1950's for the Bedford taxation office and until early 1964 for the Luton taxation office. The original vehicle registration documents are still retained from 1903 until 1936 unless a vehicle was re-registered in another county. Where this happened the documents were transferred to the county in question and were not copied by this authority. A card index system was also implemented from 1936 until the summer of 1954. This system gives various details such as chassis number, engine number, first registered owner, if they have been scrapped etc. Not all have survived or give comprehensive information and there are some gaps in the records.

This office can answer vehicle registration enquiries for Bedfordshire registered numbers but any vehicles that date from after March 1964 will not be listed amongst our holdings and the DVLA will need to be contacted to see what information they hold.