Staunch vegan David Savage snapped up the personalised plate "for a bit of fun" for a total of £1,628 during the closing stages of DVLA's first auction of 2011.

The 60-year-old, who hasn't consumed meat for 26 years and lives by the belief of totally avoiding anything originating from a living creature, said: "I suppose it sounds a little ironic, a man named Savage being a vegan, but that's how its been for me for an awful long time. Incredibly, when I first became a vegetarian my family thought it was a phase."

He added: "I wanted a private plate for my car as a bit of fun and couldn't resist it when I discovered VEG 4N was in the auction."