F&I Management & Training

Whilst the nation's Roman Catholics and other religious groups were celebrating the arrival of Pope Benedict today, I was busy running his Mercedes Benz Popemobile registration number through our VRM look up software.

The Popemobile uses the registration plate SCV 1 which is an abbreviation of "Status Civitatis Vaticanae" - Vatican City State. It's one of two vehicles he'll use during his visit to the UK.
However, it would appear that the Pope is not the only car owner with an SCV1 registration plate. Our records show that number is registered to a black 2004 registered Jeep Cherokee.

I'm sensing that things could go one of two ways here. Firstly, there's the opportunity for the Jeep owner to park on double yellows, drive in bus lanes or speed with impunity. When the inevitable fines come through the post the owner can simply lay the blame at the Pontiff's door. On the other hand, there's the UKs battalion of overzealous private clampers to consider. If they start slapping clamps or parking tickets on the Pope's car the inevitable fines will still land on the Jeep owner's door mat so it's not looking good either way. To make matters worse I noticed the Pope wasn't wearing a seat belt! Who's going to be paying the sixty quid fine I wonder?

Personally, if I was that Jeep owner I think I'd take the opportunity to sell the number plate to the Vatican so that it's a bit more bona fide if the Pope should make a return to the UK. If the Vatican doesn't want it, no problem, its provenance has just been lifted by a couple of notches anyway!