GEORGE NEWS - The George Herald reported in January last year that an additional vehicle registration code for George, CAG, would be introduced.

This was because the CAW numbers were nearing the limit of 99 999.The addition of the CAG number plate will mean that the difficult-to-read six digit numbers (from 100 000 and up) will not be used.

Last year, the George Municipality said that the rapid population growth was leading to more vehicles being registered in George than numbers going back into the pool, which necessitated a new licence mark.

A notice regarding the introduction of CAG number plates was published last year in the Provincial Gazette by the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works.

CAG will be used in addition to CAW, not replace it. The system will automatically allocate CAG numbers when it runs out of CAW combinations.

Jandré Bakker, head of communications at the department, last week said the number of CAW registration numbers currently available between 10 000 and 99 999 stand at 4 831 combinations.

"But note should be taken that additional combinations become available daily as vehicles are written off, etc.

"A definite date can hence not be projected when the CAG numbers will start circulating."

The reason for a new registration code is that there is only space for nine symbols on a number plate in the specified letter size. CAW contains three symbols, then a space, which leaves space for five digits.

Cape Town, which has only two symbols - CA - can therefore use six digits and can accommodate up to CA 999 999.

Only the Western Cape and Kwazulu Natal use the system where towns and cities have their own codes.

The other provinces have all adopted an alphanumeric system where only the province (eg. GP) is identified and the rest can be a personalised or system-generated combination of letters and/or numbers.

The number CAW 99 999 has already been allocated. 

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