Wigan Album

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO GET THERE N A SCOOTER?

Nice photo Ray. The Vespa scooter HEK 318 must have been first registered in 1961. I bought my first new motorbike from Rogersons at Orrell Post 1/7/1961. The number plate was HEK 725.

Back then HEK were Liverpool registration numbers. As for going to Scotland on a scooter, I'd rather you than me. In fact, as for going to Scotland I'd rather you than me.

Hi Ron, we set off from Wigan at about 8 am.
We travelled all day and arrived at the Battlefield of Bannockburn late. We pitched our tent in the dark.
From memory the distance was about 250 miles.
I will post a couple of photos of our days in Scotland shortly.

Ray was the photo taken outside of your house? Only asking because way back c 1953. We moved from Spring Street in Wigan to Pemberton I went to Warrington Lane school then and was friendly with a boy who moved to that vicinity, .He lived in one of the houses where this photo was taken I'm thinking it was the second or third house down from Severn Drive? I went to his house a couple of times. I think he was a bit older them me probably only a year? So he would be 79 now.

Great photo Ray, I'm sure you would have enjoyed your trip up to Scotland and back also the beautiful scenery you would have seen whilst being on a scooter, despite the comment by J N.
I'll look forward to viewing the other photos.
I can't remember the registration of the old Lambretta that I once had around 1970, I went up to Windermere on it and didn't think it would make it there and back, but it did and with still being a learner couldn't go by the M6, there was plenty of good scenery on those A & B roads.

J N, I'm sure the Scots will be drinking a toast and doing a reel at knowing you aren't going up there, if you did they'd more than likely throw you to Nessie.

Not so, Mr Noakes.
On Local Government reorganisation in 1974 the old issuing authorities - County Councils and County Boroughs - disappeared. Vehicle registrations were centralised at Swansea - but issued through regional offices.
The regional office of the DVLC at Liverpool took over issuing the Wigan registration letters from 1974 - along with those from other local registration districts, most of which became part of Merseyside in 1974. Similarly Manchester became the regional office for most of what became Greater Manchester. All the regional offices were closed by 2013 - everything being centralised at DVLA Swansea.
As far as I remember from vehicles I licensed after 1974 registration numbers were applied for by car dealers - who could choose which letters from within their issuing region they wished to have allocated to them. 'Posh' Southport registrations spread further afield. Dealers who felt a strong local identity was a good selling point would probably keep applying for registrations historically issued from their areas.
Folk who worked for car dealers, or had new vehicles registered after 1974, may know better, however.

My father bought a new car from Timberlakes in 1961. Its registration started HEK, so I always considered it to be a Wigan based registration.

Rev David Long, what you say is correct. However, you are in the wrong time-zone for this scooter.
Before the year letter was added, in 1963, EK was a Liverpool registration and HEK 318 was registered in Liverpool. In 1963 vehicles started to be registered in Wigan and between 1963 and 1974 Wigan issued EK (along with ED and JP)
The scooter is pre-1963 and was registered in Liverpool. It would have been manufactured in Bristol in the Douglas motorcycle factory.

Benjy, Wigan people consider everything to be 'Wigan based'.

Off topic sorry, but my father had a royal blue Cortina Mk.1 BEK 2986C mid sixties. I seem to remember there were also a fair few 'JP' prefix registrations ? Not sure where they were from.

The last batch of buses bought by Wigan Corporation in the early 1970s, before its takeover by Greater Manchester Transport, had NEK registrations.

Look up, for example, item nos. 1893, or 23453 in the Albums.

Previous batches of Corporation buses had been either -EK or -JP registrations. One which, for some unknown reason, caused much amusement to my mates when it turned up to transport us home from the Minors Matinee had registration plate FEK 1F (and no-one had ever even heard of Father Ted back then)

This page lists registration number codes from the EK series, a series allocated to the Wigan (B) area. Also included, where known, are the date periods that these car registration numbers were used in. The data covers the period of 1900 through to 1972, so registrations seen on later cars wouldn't necessarily be included in this information.
Interpreting a car's registration number.
The majority of post-war car numbers incorporate a three letter code - where this is the case, letters 2 and 3 signify the location code. So, for instance, a car with the registration number 638 GEK or TEK 512D would be a Wigan (B)-issued number. A car with just two letters, ie EK, would also be from this area.

Don't know much about the admin and history of registration plates, but the Mayor's car always used to carry the plate AEK 1. Does it still ? In fact Is there even still a Mayoral car ?

Hi John Noakes, "Wigan people consider everything to be 'Wigan based’.” Really?

Bought a 50cc bike from Millers of Wigan in 1973, Reg was PJP483M.

Gareth, seems the Mayor now uses a taxi, and a taxi licensed at Wyre, near Blackpool, and making Wigan taxi drivers have a moan about it, though it doesn't take much to get them moaning. Article in Wigan Post see link:

https://www.wigantoday.net/business/wigan-taxi-drivers-anger-over-blackpool-firm-running-mayors-car-187732

Seems the official number plate AEK 1, is also on the taxi.

https://www.car.co.uk/media/guides/number-plates/uk-number-plate-area-codes