A Scottish car dealer has offered to pay the DVLA a premium in order to receive cherished number plates faster than the four to six- week turnaround time promised by the authority.

John McGuire, managing director of Phoenix Car Company, said: “We get a second rate service compared to the public.

“We often trade cars by the hour, not by the day and sometimes we’re keeping them for weeks because we’re waiting for the plates.”

A spokeswoman for the DVLA told AM: “With the research and documentation work involved we need the time stated, though it is often less than six weeks.”

Earlier this year an Act of Parliament was passed designed to simplify the process of buying and keeping a cherished number plate.

The act is designed to reduce the likelihood of fraud as well as allowing keepers of cherished reg-istrations to grant retention rights directly to the purchaser.

However, the DVLA spokeswoman said: “We have no plans to make the process faster.”