Sorry Netts, you are quite right. I was trying to keep the reply short as I was busy and failed to think my answer through! The reason I asked for the reg number is that if it was a Greater London area registration (and Gander and Gray were in Romford E12,) all London registration documents were destroyed on the instructions of the (then) DVLC in the early 80s. They ordered all local authorities who had previously been keeping the records before the set-up of the central computerised system at the DVLC to destroy their records, an act of vandalism in the opinion of many and certainly a rash decision for them as many, many queries have come back to haunt them since. Some LAs didn't do as instructed and have kept their material in their Archives and some passed them on to a Charity, The Kithead Trust (
http://www.kitheadtrust.org.uk/vehicle_records_5.html) where you can search these records. Helpfully their website also lists remaining archived material still in Local Authority care. However, apart from curiosity there is little point in finding a vehicle in registration documents any more as these records rarely have an engine and frame number against them and without this VOSA/DVLA will not re-issue an old number, the rules having recently been tightened up. An old tax disc is no longer enough either unfortunately. (An old logbook will still work though.) This is a shame as I have previously reclaimed 2 numbers on Enfields. That's why my reply was so short!
REgards, Mark
