DVLA bans personalised number plates that look like the word ‘Covid’

Before the pandemic, the word ‘corona’ would have sparked images of an ice-cold bottle of beer with a wedge of lime nestled in the top.

Today, however, thanks to a certain respiratory virus, many of us associate the words ‘corona’ and ‘Covid’ with the current coronavirus pandemic.

In the UK, the DVLA has now banned personalised number plates from having certain combinations that look or sound like words associated with the pandemic.

Letter combinations such as ‘COV 1D’, ‘COV 11D’ and ‘COV 111D’ have been banned by the government agency to avoid any offence.

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, a DVLA spokesperson explained: “We suppress any registration number combinations that may cause offence, embarrassment or are in poor taste.

“This includes combinations that could be interpreted as referring to Covid-19.”

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These combinations join a whole host of other combinations that, as of December, have been banned by the DVLA.

Some of them include combinations that look like swear words, racist slurs and other offensive terms, such as, *A20 HOL, *F20 OFF and BU20 GGR. The asterisks denote combinations that are banned regardless of what letter is placed there.

Personalised number plates can be bought online in an on-the-spot purchase or through an auction depending on the popularity and availability of the desired combination.

Again, depending on the desirability, they can cost anywhere between hundreds of pounds to a few thousand pounds.