This year, the likes of D23 UGY, EU23 OFF and UA23 ASE have all been made unavailable.
Carwow submitted a Freedom of Information request to get access to the list and said in a comment to This is Money; 'Few drivers are likely to want to be told to GO23 HEL or EA23 POO by the car in front, for example, while nobody wants to share the road with a BA23 TRD, a PS23 CHO, a TO23 ERR or an AA23 OLE. BO23 OKS and MU23 DER are also likely to cause perennial offence.'
'More recent events have led to plates such as RU23 UKR, NO23 RUS and YE23 WAR being suppressed, however, alongside CO23 ONA and EU23 BAD.'
Quite how the meeting of senior officials unfolds is unclear, but, given the breadth of plates that must be available we can only imagine it’s a painstaking process to sieve through all of those that ‘could’ be deemed to be offensive – especially in this day and age.
The full list can be viewed here.