F1 car plate may fetch £150,000

The council will decide whether to accept an offer next week

A 100-year-old numberplate bearing the registration F1 could be sold for more than £150,000 after bidding closed on Friday.

The deadline for offers for the plate was timed to coincide with the opening practice session at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Essex County Council is considering selling the plate which it first issued as a licensing authority in 1904.

It said any money from a sale would be spent on improving road safety.

Chairman's plate

"We haven't got the exact number of people who have expressed an interest, but we are talking double figures as opposed to single figures and the interest is above £150,000," said a council spokesman.

The F1 plate has been used for the past 100 years on the car of the council's chairman.

Andrew Johnstone is thought to have been the first chairman to use the plate on his four-seater Panhard Levassor in 1904.

Recently it has adorned the Volvo S80 of the council's current chairman, Anthony Peel.

The council will decide whether to accept any of the offers next week.