China trials free choice of car license plate numbers

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

 ◆ China trials free choice of car license plate numbers

Car owners in the four Chinese cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Shenzhen are allowed a free choice of license plate numbers, the China Youth Daily reports on Tuesday.

According to traffic administration sources, car owners are free to choose any sequence or combination of letters and numbers,except "CHN" and any three consecutive identical letters or numbers.

A Mr. Zan, who works in a second-hand car market, became the first person in Beijing allocated his chosen license plate number -- "A 123-456".

He said he had waited in line for more than 10 hours to choose that number.

All car owners will be allowed to choose three sets of numbers and enter them into a computer to check whether they have already been chosen by others. If one is unused, the owner has to accept it.

If all their chosen numbers are in use, car owners will have the chance to choose another three sets of numbers.

The plates can be made immediately and given to the car owners after the number is chosen.

This system would spread to China's whole car market after first being trialed in the four cities, sources said.