The DVLA has been asked to investigate a personalised number plate that appears to reference the Holocaust.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has written to the licensing authority requesting a review of the registration “5H04 AAH”, which can be read as “Shoah” using the letter-number substitutions commonly employed on personalised numberplates.

The term “Shoah” is widely used in Israel and by Jewish communities around the world to refer to the Holocaust, in which approximately six million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War.

The complaint follows reports from a member of the public who spotted the vehicle in Hackney, east London, and interpreted the registration as a reference to the Holocaust.

In a letter to the DVLA, UKLFI explained that many Jewish people would regard the registration as deeply offensive because it appeared to make a trivial or playful allusion to one of the darkest chapters in human history.

UKLFI noted that the DVLA routinely withholds registrations that could reasonably be considered offensive, discriminatory or in poor taste. It has asked the agency to establish whether the registration is a “cherished number plate” and to consider whether it should be allowed to remain in use.

Caroline Turner, director of UK Lawyers for Israel, commented:

“The Holocaust remains a defining tragedy for the Jewish people and a matter of profound historical importance. A registration mark that appears to make light of the Shoah is capable of causing genuine distress and offence.

“The DVLA has clear policies intended to prevent offensive registrations from appearing on Britain’s roads. We have asked it to review this registration carefully and determine whether it is appropriate for it to remain in circulation.”