Car Number Plate NH 1 may be sold by Northampton Borough Council who are being urged to sell the Mayoral car's official car number plate, which could be worth up to £250,000
The Chronicle & Echo consulted three cherished number plate experts who estimated the NH1 plate would be worth between £200,000 and £250,000 to the council's coffers.
The beleaguered local authority recently proposed £3.1 million cuts to services, including the closure of Lings leisure centre, reducing its funding to the Royal & Derngate theatres and scaling down street-sweeping and graffiti removal.
If Lings leisure centre was to close, it would save the authority £150,000, and if the town's 16 public toilets were also to close, the saving would be £200,000.
Rakesh Verma, Managing Director of CNDA registered market leader Registrations 4 Vehicles ltd, and their website www.Reg4vehicles.co.uk , said: "As per many councils and counties up and down the country, Mayoral cars bear many valuable plates.
"NH 1 on the open market would command a value of between £200,000 to £225,000, which is a considerable sum."
Martin McLaughlin, owner of Leicester Motormarks registrations, said the number plate was issued to the borough council in 1904, free of charge. He said he sold the number plate 1NH for £40,000 many years ago, and personalised number plates of this type had at least quadrupled in value since then. He said the NH1 private number plate could be worth anything up to £250,000.
Alanda Downey, of spedyreg, said: "NH1 is a particularly old, original car cherished number plate and is worth a small fortune.
"It could fetch anything up to £250,000 and would be highly sought-after. There is a massive market out there for distinctive plates such as this.
"It's amazing how many people are prepared to pay this kind of money.
"Number Plates like this very rarely come on the market, , so demand would be huge."
A council spokesperson said: "It has been suggested, as part of the public feedback on the budget options, that the council should consider selling off the NH1 private plate on the mayoral car.
"All comments made as part of the car registration consultation will be presented to councillors for their consideration.
"There are no official records about how the council acquired the number plate, but it is believed it was a gift to the town from Thomas Cockerill, who was mayor in 1956 to 1957.
"Estimates received by the council last year indicated that the number plate would sell for £75,000 to a private cherished number buyer.
"However, the council's budgetary situation requires long-term solutions and while selling off the registration plate would bring in some revenue in the short-term, we really need to identify year-on-year savings."
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