The Mother City will soon have to move over to a new number plate system and locals will have to say goodbye to the CAA number plates.

A provincial gazette published this past Friday, November 15 reveals interesting new information about what Capetonians can expect from the new system.

These new number plates are being created to allow for a larger yield to be produced. The current CAA plates only allow 99,999 plates to be produced, whereas the proposed WC system is expected to produce 16-million number plates.

CAA number plates will run out by January 2020 and the George area will begin to receive new CAG plates in the next few weeks.

The new system could affect personalised WP licence numbers and the department is currently considering introducing a five-year transition period allowing the public enough time to move over to the new system.

What can locals expect from the new number plates:

According to the gazette, the new number plates will feature a combination of numbers and letters.

The gazette states the number plates will have four letters and two figures in any sequence followed by the “WC” license mark.

This format is similar to the one used in Gauteng and will be able to accommodate roughly 16-million new number plates according department spokesperson Jandré Bakker speaking to BusinessTech.

In total nine characters will feature on the new number plates which could cause issues for the size of number plates in future.

“The department would like to advise the public, traffic law enforcement authorities, as well as certified number plate manufacturers that 1 of the 5 sizes of number plates that are legally allowed on vehicles registered before 01 January 2010 will not comply with the SABS standards (SANS code) if a 9-character licence number is used. Therefore, instead of the 440mm x 120mm size number plate, the 520mm x 113mm size must be used as this will enable motorists to still comply with the law,” states the gazette.

Picture: Pexels

(SOURCE: CAPE TOWN ETC)