Barbadian

Vehicle registration Motor vehicle registration is the registration of a motor vehicle with a government authority, either compulsory or otherwise. The purpose of motor vehicle registration is to establish a link between a vehicle and an owner or user of the vehicle. Th ...

plates consist of

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

and

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...

s. The Barbados Licensing Authority issues licence plates to all new motor vehicle owners. Each licence plate has one or two letters which represents the part of the island which the vehicle's owner resides or previously resided at the time the vehicle was registered. The first part consists of one or two letters which determine the part of the island the registration is from, or category of vehicle. The international code for Barbadian plates is BDS.

By parish

The breakdown is as follows.

Syntax

For the parish of Christ Church, 'X' represents

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and therefore 'X' is chosen. Other parishes are by their first names: Saint John has 'J', so

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

therefore moved on to the next letter 'O',

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

became 'A',

Saint Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

became 'M', meanwhile

Saint Philip Saint Philip, São Filipe, or San Felipe may refer to: People * Saint Philip the Apostle * Saint Philip the Evangelist also known as Philip the Deacon * Saint Philip Neri * Saint Philip Benizi de Damiani also known as Saint Philip Benitius or Fili ...

became 'P', so

Saint Peter Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...

became 'E', vehicles for Saint James having all other letters taken, became known as the last letter of its name "S". All of the remaining

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

were then able to be represented as the first letter of their name. On the licence plate, the number can go up to 4 digits. So for example, a person whose licence plate is L999 lives in St. Lucy and has registered his or her vehicle in that parish. Depending on the number of people living in a particular parish there are sometimes other letters following the first letter to create a licence plate such as MA 999 or XF 700. This is especially so in Christ Church and St. Michael where the populations are large. As of November 2008, Barbados had approximately 126,361 registered vehicles on the roads.Traffic Snarl
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Special registration

Opening_of_Parliament_and_Throne_Speech_(50345582392)

* CROWN (symbol) - The vehicle for HM The King or his

vice-regal A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

representative the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

(A single metallic crown emblem on black) * B - Mini buses (Blue on white) * BM - Public buses * BT - Tour bus * CD - Consular and diplomatic vehicles (Yellow on blue) * D - Defence Force Vehicles * H - Hired rental vehicles (Blue on white) * HL - Hired

Limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

. (White on red) * MP - Member of Parliament (

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

bears "MP2"), other government-owned vehicles such as police force, civil service and government agencies (White on green) * ML - Vehicles owned by Government Departments, run by Statutory Boards. * Z - Taxis (Blue on white) * ZM - Maxi taxi * ZR - Private or contract buses or minivans (Blue on white) * MO - (preceded by up to 4 numerals) - Motor Dealers (Red on white)

International markings

The international code, which should be shown to the rear of the vehicle on a black-on-white oval, and to be carried by Barbadian vehicles when circulating outside Barbados is 'BDS'. Owners may use white on black plates, front and rear, or black on white (front) and yellow(rear).

References

External links

BARBADOS 2010 UPDATE, by Jean-Emmanuel Chevry
The License Plates Portal {{DEFAULTSORT:Vehicle Registration Plates Of Barbados

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...