Number of digits on a plate

Sorry maybe wasn't clear enough I was meaning like my fiesta was E114 WAK and bluebirds E43 TEA and C53 CBK. Was wondering if there was a reason for the difference?

But the only difference there is digits - there are the same number of letters in each registration, just more digits in one of them. The digits vary because they're basically issued in sequence, starting at 21 and going up to 999, at which point the first letter of the final three goes "up" one and the digits start at 21 again. The Bluebirds must have been registered closer to the start of the registration year than the Fiesta.

So, while there is probably a bit more to it, the result when applying for a new registration would be

First application gets E21 AEA, then:
E23 AEA (because 22 was reserved for sale)
..
E98 AEA
E102 AEA (because they kept 99 and 100 on one side)
E103 AEA
..
E998 AEA
E21 BEA
E23 BEA
..

and so on. It's just a numerical sequence. I imagine it went out of order sometimes, and there was talk that while the local DVLA offices were open it was still possible to "have a word" if you wanted a specific plate.

I expect once DVLA started selling registrations that became more tricky, but still a lot of new TVRs were registered with "TVR" plates for example. I know "VR" is a local office plate to them, but there must have been some influence to get them all starting with "T" regardless of the next VR in sequence.

Thanks all was just a daft thing in my head then 🙄 So dumbed down for the likes of me the lower numbers were registered first and the plates went to 7 characters after 99.

NYK1L is currently registered to a purple Skoda.

I believe that very often the low numbers were kept for bike plates. Being square rather than a strip a six figure plate is much 'nicer' 2 rows of 3. I have 2 bikes with 6 fig regs a 42 and a 79 - nice small plates . Not premium plates, just allocated like that