Thanks for the reply. I asked that, just about whether I could place the plate on retention and the DVLA guy just shook his head and said it's the same situation, has to have MOT and Tax within the last 12 months

Hi there I'm wondering if anyone can offer any advice to a numberplate issue I have. I had a private plate assigned to a car which was then involved in an accident in 2006. The insurance did not cover modified parts (they were declared but not covered) so I did not go through the insurance at all, i just declared the car SORN. The plan was to repair it and get it going again, i didn't even think of the numberplate being an issue if it was SORN and i checked on y certificate for the numberplate which doesn't state anything about time periods. I bought another model and the plan was to transfer the parts over. Fast forward to 2010 when I checked with the DVLA (over the phone unfortunately, we all know how difficult they are to deal with), about transferring the plate. They said the car it was going on to would neeed to be taxed and tested which at the time it wasn't as it wasn't ready. Now the car is done, it's taxed and tested, I wanted to transfer the plate over... I've now been told that the car the plate was on must have had a tax and test within the last 12 months, which obviously it hasn't. The original car has been scrapped but i've not declared it scrapped yet while this numberplate issue is going on. The plate is worth about £6k and i think it's unfair that I look like losing it when the T&C's were not issued with the numberplate itself. I have an application form to swap the plates from the DVLA office who said i can send it and it would be rejected, and then i can appeal but it's very unlikely to go anywhere. Does anyone have any other advice they can give to help this situation? Cheers