Having the opportunity to personalise their vehicles has been a major hit with Island car owners, especially middle aged women.

But a row has opened up between the Transport Control Department (TCD) and one driver after the authority threatened to revoke his new personalised registration number if he did not display it on one of the standard American style plates.

The man, who asked not to be named, said he had grafted his new personalised number to an original style number plate because he thought it looked better.

"It's actually better because you can see the registration number more clearly," he said. "But TCD told me I couldn't have it there. We are the only country that has two types of plates functioning at the same time. This seems to be such an unnecessary thing to worry about."

He added: "I would have thought that as long as you are registered under the number you are displaying then you would be fine. But what do I know? I'm just one of the public."

The Motor Car Amendment Act 2000, that paved the way for the use of personalised licence plates, treats the use of the personalised numbers and the American-style plates as one in the same thing. However, it does not explicitly state that grafting the new number to an old style plate is not allowed.

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown told The Royal Gazette that he was not concerned with what type of plate people used to display their number. He said: "As long as the Police can read them, we aren't concerned. That is the type of thing we are spending less time dealing with these days. We want to put the focus on choice and relaxation. As long as the plates meet the legal requirements we aren't bothered." Road Safety Officer Roxanne Christopher was unavailable for comment, as was TCD director Kevin Monkman.

TCD dealers clerk Sandy Talbot said 129 personalised licence plates had been sold to drivers since their introduction last December.

She said an estimated 85 percent of those buying them are females in the age bracket of 40 to 50 years old.

"I find a lot of ladies are purchasing them. Men don't seem to be as interested. And we hardly ever get younger people coming in to buy them."

She said: "It's fascinating reading the various humorous names that drivers put on their cars. Its a way of making them more individual I suppose."

People request all sorts of plates, from sexual innuendos to job descriptions, from sports teams to private messages that only hold significance for a select few, Ms Talbot said. But Ms Talbot said that inscriptions which might be considered offensive were not allowed.

"I suppose it's a way of injecting a bit of humour into every day life. They can be sentimental messages, tributes to boyfriends or girlfriends. You name it and people have it."

She said she thought the personalised licence plate craze was only just beginning.

"There will be a lot more sold, I think. There has been a lot of interest and people are coming into pick up application forms all the time. Ms Talbot added that it has been quite popular for drivers to have their personalised plates installed into brand new cars as soon as they come off the container ship.

Dr. Ewart Brown said he was "impressed" by the number of plates he had seen on cars.

"It seems as if there has been a surge. It certainly helps us in terms of our revenue but it also provides us with something light to think about. Its something different."