Tuvalu
STATUS: Independent island nation.
FORMERLY: A British territory (pre-1978), and part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (pre-1975)
PRONOUNCED: TOO vah loo
CAPITAL: Funafuti
WORLD LOCATION: Southwest Pacific
FIRST LICENSE PLATES IN USE: 1975
MOTOR VEHICLES CURRENTLY REGISTERED: Approx. 450
PLATES ARE: Owner provided, and unusually made of whatever is handy, due to a shortage of metal on the island. The current series has a three letter island code, a serial number, and a two digit number denoting the year of issue, i.e. FTC:131:91. The following island prefixes are in the books, but almost all known Tuvalu plates bear the prefix letters of the main district, Funafuti Town Council:
FTC - Funafuti
Town Council
NGA - Nanumanga
NKL -
Nukulaelae
NKT - Nukufetao
NLA - Niu
Lakita
NMA - Nanumea
NTO - Niutao
NUI - Nui
VTP- Vaitupu
The previous series used the same codes, but had no year suffix (see header photo). There is only one series of plates in use on Tuvalu, and all vehicles run in the same numbering series.
SINGLE PLATES OR PAIRS: Pairs
OVAL: TUV
CARS DRIVE ON: Left
Header
photo from the PL8S photo archive.
 |
Late 1970's vintage passenger plate, from Funafuti Town Council. White on black hand painted, on heavy quarter inch steel. Formerly in the Drew Steitz collection. |
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