Licence plates were attached to the base of a wall where the licence holder was permitted to stand whilst awaiting hire.
This plate is on the same triangular island of land at junction of The Avenue and St. Leonard's Road as the other LPS plate, but this one is facing 1 Upperton Gardens (currently Arthritis Action), whose entrance is on The Avenue.
This plate was the most difficult to find out of all the plates I surveyed, and it took me several visits and the use of loppers and secateurs to cut back the overhanging foliage to locate it.
Apart from the broken tang/spike, this plate is in excellent condition in terms of lack of corrosion, and consequently the letters are sharply defined. It also has its two original blacksmith made large retention nails. Repainted by Bob Cookson.
While Bob was repainting the plate, a lady approached us to ask what we were doing (I was just watching Bob work!), and it was nice to be able to explain to someone the history of these plates. In fact, this happened on a number of occasions as I accompanied Bob on his repainting tasks, but the most questions and comments I got were when I was surveying the letter boxes, as not only did I have to photograph them, but Kim also asked me to note their dimensions, which required me to use a dress makers/tailors measuring tape. Not only did I have to measure the height of the pillar/wall boxes, but also their circumference/width, as well as the size of the post slot (aperture). I had to do this, and note all these dimensions in my notebook, as people wandered past obviously wondering what I was doing! Some people asked if I was doing a scientific survey, while others were worried that the letter box I was measuring was going to be removed, so it was nice to explain what the survey was for, and also point out the different Royal cyphers that most people admitted they had never even noticed!
