Member of Europlate and Francoplaque.

On platesmania.com as VO54MKP

I have had an interest in car number plates since the mid sixties. My father showed how the British system worked and gave me an AA book so that I could see the codes. My mother was Italian and, in 1968, we went to Italy to see my grandparents. We visited Paris, Venice, Rome - then, as now, great places to see cars from different countries. I didn't have a camera then, so I made notes on paper of all the spots. These included British Forces Germany, Canadian & American Forces in Europe, Soviet Union (SU), Yugoslavia (YU), Malta (GBY) and places further afield from Africa and Middle East especially Afghanistan.

On the third journey to Italy, I did manage to buy a Polaroid Instant camera but with only 6 films in a cassette, I couldn't take many photos.

By the late seventies, I bought a SLR camera and in 2000 moved over a digital SLR. With the advent of the digital age, I scanned my old Polaroid and 35mm photographs. Sadly, some had been destroyed and some degraded over time.

My interests are all number plates from the world - especially diplomatic registrations and royal family vehicles. I also like the older series of registrations, say, from before the seventies - the ones I remember spotting but which you see rarely today.