A unique number plate that has been used by Lord Mayors of Leeds for more than 120 years has now been put up for sale.
Following extensive market testing, Leeds City Council has appointed three specialist dealers to manage the sale of the historic U1 plate. Prospective buyers will have one month to submit their bids, with the transaction expected to proceed subject to final approval by council officers. Proceeds from the sale will be reinvested into the council’s budget, helping to support and protect essential local services.
Councillor Debra Coupar, Leeds City Council’s deputy leader and executive member for resources said:
“This is a very exciting opportunity for someone to buy a piece of Leeds history while at the same time helping us address what is an incredibly difficult financial situation.”
The story of the U1 number plate dates back to the Motor Car Act of 1903, which made number plates a legal requirement for all vehicles. At that time, local resident Rowland Winn, a founding member of the Automobile Association, purchased U1 – the very first plate to be issued in Leeds.
When his friend Arthur Currer Briggs was elected Lord Mayor later that year, Winn gifted him the plate for use on the civic vehicle. From that point on, U1 became a defining symbol of the Lord Mayor’s office, used by successive Lord Mayors of Leeds for more than 120 years. Winn himself went on to become one of Leeds’s first car dealers and was later elected Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1938–39. He retired from public life in the 1950s and, in 1956, was awarded the Freedom of the City in recognition of his service and contribution to Leeds’s prosperity.
Once the sale of the historic U1 plate is finalised, it will be replaced on the Lord Mayor’s civic vehicle with L6EDS – another plate owned by the council, though far less valuable.
