TWO valuable civic car number plates are no longer owned by Hull City Council after they were transferred to another company.
The two registration plates – KH1 and 1KH – are reserved for exclusive use on the authority's civic cars, which traditionally carry the Lord Mayor of Hull and his or her deputy to official engagements.
But the potentially valuable plates are now no longer council property.
They have been switched to the council's wholly owned building firm KWL as part of a recent outsourcing deal.
It has prompted fears they could be sold off.
Last month, a privately owned "HU11 CTY" nameplate plate was sold for £46,736 at an auction.
The move involving the civic cars – a Jaguar Sovereign and an all-electric Nissan Leaf – saw the council's vehicle fleet management operations and its street lighting section being transferred to the company.
Staff and vehicles moved to KWL in September last year.
But former Lord Mayor Councillor John Fareham said the distinctive number plates should have been retained by the council.
"It's not quite like giving the family silver away for nothing but it comes pretty close," he said.
"As a director of KWL, I know the plates are in pretty safe hands but what is worrying is that this was allowed to happen in the first place without any councillor being consulted about it.
"In theory, the first duty of any director is to secure the interests of their company. In any other scenario, that could mean flogging off the plates for whatever they might make if the company needed to raise some money.
"Who knows if there is a millionaire out there called Keith Hargreaves who might be willing to offer us a fortune for KH1.
"I am not suggesting that is going to happen, because KWL is ultimately owned by the council, but it does concern me that other services might be council transferred to other providers without a proper oversight being carried out on what is actually being transferred."
Another former lord mayor, Councillor Colin Inglis, said he believed the issue was "more cock-up than conspiracy".
He added: "KWL needs to transfer the numbers back to council ownership, even if we do own KWL.
"Some reasonable arrangement over servicing and other costs needs to be negotiated for the civic cars, which I think should also be retained directly by the council."
The civic cars were transferred as part of the switch, along with other council vehicles, including bin lorries and road gritters.
It was aimed at reducing management and maintenance costs for the council
Council leader Councillor Steve Brady said he was confident the registration plates were in safe hands.
He said: "I don't think they should have been transferred but what I can say is that KWL will never sell those plates."
