Vehicle registration plates in Hong Kong are managed by the Transport Department of Hong Kong. The physical number plates are not provided by the government but are made to order by garages. The vehicle registration system in Hong Kong is independent from that of Mainland China and Macau. Overview Each vehicle must display two registration plates: one at the front, and one at the rear of the vehicle. The front plate has black characters on a white background, and the rear plate has black characters on a yellow background. The height of the letters and numerals are not less than 8 cm (3.1 in) and not more than 11 cm (4.3 in). The plates should comply with British Standard B.S. 145a, and have permanently marked on the plate the specification number "B.S. AU 145a". Numbering system Vehicles of the Chief Executive do not have registration plates. Instead, they have the Emblem of Hong Kong in front and at the rear. During British administration, the vehicle of the Governor bore the St Edward's Crown emblem. Usual numbers Regular registrations consist of a two-letter prefix followed by a number between 102 and 9998 (refer to the Special Registration Marks section for a list of withheld numbers) without leading zeroes. The letters "I", "O" and "Q" are not used in prefixes to avoid ambiguity. The very first numbers allocated (1–9999) had no prefixes. "HK" and "XX" were the first two prefixes allocated, followed by "AA", "AB", "AC", through to "AZ" – except for "AM", which was reserved for Government vehicles. Then came "BB" through "BZ", "CA" through "CZ", &c. The "BA" prefix wasn't issued, as the authorities came to the conclusion that it could be confused with "AB". "BF" was also skipped, as it was still associated with the expression 'bloody fool' in the 1970s. In 2003, the "BA" and "BF" prefixes were made available at auction for personalised registration plates. The prefixes "FU", "FV" and "ZM" were also issued out of turn. "FU" and "FV" are typically issued to vehicles whose primary registration is abroad (usually Mainland China), however, some locally-registered vehicles also use the "FU" and "FV" prefixes. ZM-prefixed plates are issued to Macanese-registered vehicles in Hong Kong, and are the equivalent of Chinese cross-border plates. Some "DW", "EW" and "SJ" registration marks are also used for this purpose. Shortly prior to the handover of Hong Kong on 1 July 1997,