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Controversy over introduction of numberplates

Motorists weren't onboard with the idea of registrations plates when they arrived in the early 1900s

In 1900, Autocar opined in reply to an article in the County Council Times: “We cannot understand, except on the assumption that autocarists are less amenable to the law than all other of Her Majesty’s liege subjects – which is absurd – why they alone should be chosen for having numbers painted on their vehicles. "[This] would be such a departure from the accepted conditions of life in this country that it would lead the public to believe that a man who prefers to use a vehicle propelled by an engine to one drawn by a horse is, in the eyes of the authorities, a person who is likely to misconduct himself. If careful and considerate motorists were allowed to drive [unidentified], a large number would advertise that the driver of that car was not a man to be trusted to consider the feelings or safety of other users of the road,” posited Mr G de Freville.

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