Dutch thought police err in issuing banned license plate initials

Dutch officials are reissuing license plates to more than 100 car owners who received plates with the initials "NSB" -- a combination banned as offensive because they stand for the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, the collaborationist Dutch national socialist party of the Second World War.

The Telegraph recently reported:

"It was caused by a computer programming error," explained an official. "Being reminded of the NSB leaves most Dutch people uneasy. New plates have been issued to all affected cars."

NSB is one of several letter combinations, also including KKK, for the Ku Klux Klan and PKK for the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, that have been programmed not to come up when new plate numbers are automatically generated.

Banned letter combinations include abbreviations for political parties, swear words, or the PSV of football club Eindhoven.

"If you live in Amsterdam and you are a staunch Ajax supporter, you might not feel very happy driving around in a car marked PSV," said the official.