I have just pulled out a genuine barn find Austin Champ out of a barn, that was registered at one time bearing YCF 79 but no paperwork at all, now the number plates are obviously very old, my point is the DVLA have no knowledge of the number but will say you cannot retain it it seems to me some years ago the DVLA nicked all these numbers and now deny any knowledge of them, it seems they nicked them back and then destroyed the files.