Vehicle registration plates of Brunei

License plates are displayed on all motorized road vehicles in Brunei, as required by law. The issue of license plates is regulated and administered by the Brunei Land Transport Department. All vehicles must also display two of the same license plates numbers of the same colours at the front and rear of the vehicles. All vehicle license plates in Brunei, other than those issued to royalty, diplomats and taxis (see below), have white characters on a black background, regardless of the vehicle type.[1]

Fundamental design
Typical three-numbered Brunei license plate.

The most common form of Brunei licence plates, in use since the introduction of motorised vehicles in the country's British colonial era, typically begin with one or more letters followed by up to four numerical digits with no leading zeroes. Thus, the configuration of a common Brunei number plate may be in the form of BB 1234.[1]


The sequence of licensed numbers, since 1 January 1984, issued begins with xA 1 to xY 9999. The prefix "x" is either "B" for cars registered with the Brunei-Muara Land Transport Department prior to 2006, or "K" for cars registered with the Kuala Belait Land Transport Department prior to 2006. After 2006, the letter "K" is assigned to all cars irrespective of the location that the cars are registered. The table below shows the possible combinations in use. Special cases are also listed in the table. Some letters are not used - these are listed in the (letters I, O and Z are not used to avoid ambiguity with numbers or other forms of local license plates).[1]

Second LetterPrefix letter BCommentsPrefix letter KComments
-BThese were the first licence plates issued in the British protectorate of Brunei-There are no licence plates starting with the single letter K
ABAKAFor Belait only[2]
BBBKBFor Belait only[2]
CBCKCFor Belait only[2]
D-There are no licence plates with BDKDFor Belait only[2]
EBEThe first licence plates issued by the sovereign nation of BruneiKEFor Belait only[2]
FBFKFFor Belait only[2]
GBGBG is reserved for government vehicles onlyKGFor Belait only[2]
HBHKHKH was the last licence plates to be issued exclusively by the Kuala Belait Land Transport Department[2]
JBJKJKJ marks the start of licence plates issued by the Bandar Seri Begawan Land Transport Department (in addition to the Kuala Belait[2])
KBKKKFor Belait only[2]
LBLKLFor Belait only[2]
MBMKMFor Belait only[2]
NBNKNFor Belait only[2]
PBPKPFor Belait only[2]
QBQ-There are no licence plates with KQ
RBRKR
SBSKS
TBT
UBU
VBV
WBW
XBXOnly used for the Vehicles of the 1999 Southeast Asian Games. Also used during the royal family wedding bearing yellow background and black font.
YBY

Since the prefix 'B' plate finished, the Land Transport Department decided to restart the prefix 'B' plate with 'BA', which consists of 3 letters and up to 4 numbers in the form of "Bxx 1234".

Second LetterThird LetterPrefix letter BCommentsPrefix letter KComments
AABAARestart of the 'B' plates in 2009--
ABBAB---
ACBAC---
AEBAE---
AFBAF---
AGBAG---
AHBAH---
AJBAJ---
AKBAK---
ALBAL---
AMBAM---
ANBAN---
APBAP---
AQBAQ---
ARBAR---
ASBAS---
ATBAT---
AUBAU---
A V BAV - - -
A W BAW - - -
A X BAX - - -
A Y BAY - - -

The format is used in virtually all classes of vehicles with engines, including, unless stated later:

  • Private vehicles (cars, motorcycles, vans, trucks and other vehicles of similar design).
  • Commercial and industrial vehicles (vans, trucks - light or heavy, buses, road-legal vehicles for construction and excavation and other vehicles of similar design).
  • Service vehicles (police cars, ambulances, fire engines, public utility vehicles and other vehicles of similar design).

The shape and size of Brunei license plates on vehicles, with the exception of motorcycles and scooters, are restricted to either 8.5 inch by 13.5 incy or 21 inch by 6 inch.[1] Vehicular plates on motorcycles are usually smaller at either 4.25 inch by 6.75 inch or 8.5 inch by 3 inch.[1] The size of the letters and numbers on the license plate is defined to be 3.5 inch by 2.5 inch by 0.625 inch for all vehicles except for motorcycles which is defined to be 1.75 inch 2.5 inch by 0.3125 inch.[1]

Special cases

Royal Family

Some of the vehicles of the members of the Brunei Royal Family including the Sultan and the Crown Prince have unique license plates. Some of the plates have different colours (e.g. white on red), initials or fancy script.[3]

Diplomat car

Number 4 DC Indonesia XX-NN-DC where XX is a sequential number, NN = foreign mission number (e.g. USA = 9) and DC stands for diplomat's car. The plates have a white background with black letters and numbers.[1]

Taxis and buses

The numbers for taxis and buses are the same as those for private vehicles, but the plates have a green background instead of black background instead. The letters and numbers on the plate is white in colour as with private vehicles.[4]

Dealerships

Temporary license plates are given to car dealerships to enable the car to be transported to the showroom, for test drives, etc. These plates have a white background with red letters and numbers.[4]

Military vehicles

Military vehicles have a white letters/numbers on black background like any private registered cars. However, the numbering system is different from private vehicles as all military vehicles are registered with a MOD1111x number, where MOD stands for Ministry of Defence, 1111 is the number with any leading zeros being omitted and x is a letter denoting which branch of the military it is registered under.

Foreign Malaysian vehicles

Older Brunei number plates bears similarity to Malaysian state of Selangor and Kedah number plates which also begin with "B" and "K". The newer Brunei number plates has font shape and size that can easily differentiate them from Malaysian registered vehicles.

References
  1. Land Transport Department Rules and Regulations - last retrieved 13 June 2008
  2. (in English) Road Traffic Act Revised Edition 2007 Article 59 pp. 28
  3. Supercars picture - last retrieved 10 August 2008
  4. Land Transport Department Rules and Regulations, Commercial Vehicles - last retrieved 10 August 2008
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