• Edinburgh plates banned in case they offend
• Fears SN07 could have been misread as 'SNOT'
• DVLA pledges to ban plates that could offend

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) changed its entire number plate licensing policy earlier this year in case people were offended by the prefix SN07, which it was feared could be misread as SNOT.

All Scottish plates begin with an S, and SN07 had been due to follow SN56 for all cars registered in Edinburgh in March.

Fearing that SN07 could leave them open to a stream of gags, as well as putting off potential buyers, the DVLA instead issued plates that began with TN07.

'It is our policy that any registration mark that can be construed as being offensive to people will be suppressed,' said a DVLA spokesman.

'In this case, the SN07 marks would have been too similar to the word 'snot' and, as that could possibly offend some buyers, they were replaced with the new TN07 registrations.'