A Gibraltar teenager is asking for Bermuda’s help.

Since 2019 Tomas Novotny has collected over a thousand licence plates from all over the world. Now he wants one from Bermuda.

“Some people call me crazy,” the 17 year old said. “But collecting number plates is my hobby.”

On February 3, Mr Novotny posted on the Bermudians Around the World Facebook group looking for help in obtaining such a plate.

“They can be old style, new style, bad condition, I don’t mind,” he wrote. “I prefer not to have mint ones though, where possible.”

In return for a licence plate he sends a gift box of food or souvenirs from Gibraltar and Spain. So far, one person from Bermuda has responded, promising him a numberplate from a motorcycle.

“It has not arrived yet,” Mr Novotny said. “People often write promising to send something, but only one in ten people follow through and actually send something.”

He is hoping someone will send a vanity plate which has Bermuda written on it.

“It has the islands on it and is a bluish plate,” he said.

Mr Novotny already has his collection of plates from Europe completed, except for the Vatican which he said is almost impossible to get. He is also missing Liechtenstein and the Faroe Islands, a group of islands between Iceland and Norway, and also Aaland, an island territory of Finland. He also has every American and Australian state, but has gaps in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean.

Plates from small places like Bermuda are often hard to obtain because fewer are made.

He has lived in Gibraltar his whole life, but his family are originally from Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.

“Gibraltar is a British overseas territory like Bermuda, located in southern Iberia,” Mr Novotny told The Royal Gazette. “The population is 30,000.”

He thinks his interest started when he was about ten years old. Driving to vacation spot, Marbella, Spain, an hour away, or his home town in the Czech Republic, 28-hours away, he had ample time for licence plate spotting.

“I just recently found a little notebook that I had at that age,” he said. “I was always jotting down number plates, and saying I found a car from Germany, or Ireland or whatever.”

But his interest really kicked into overdrive two years ago when he joined a Facebook group called Licence Plate Collectors. He wanted to collect an American numberplate from every state.

“I thought they were cool,” he said. “I contacted some people, and they made trades with me for Gibraltar plates which are very rare overseas, because there are so little of them. Everyone wants Gibraltar plates.”

Mr Novotny’s father, Josef Novotny, a doctor, is supportive. They often drive around to scrapyards when they are on holiday. Scrapyard workers sometimes give them old plates they have removed from vehicles.

He admitted that in Gibraltar it can look a little dodgy to be asking for plates.

“Southern Spain is the gateway of drugs into Europe,” Mr Novotny said. “So people here are a little wary of giving out number plates.”

But because he is young, people often give him the benefit of the doubt. And he shows them pictures of his collection to prove that he is a real collector.

Mr Novotny’s mother, Dana Novotny, is less enthused about the way his collection is stored in boxes in the garage and on the family terrace.

“It is essentially scrap metal,” he said.

But his plan is to take all the plates with him when he goes back to the Czech Republic next year to university. He wants to become either a radiologist or a pilot.

“I am not sure which yet,” he said. “Hopefully, I can find somewhere with a sizeable garage so that I can put my plates up on the walls.”

Recently, Mr Novotny has been gaining worldwide attention for his hobby. Stories about him have appeared on BBC Radio and on CBC television in Canada.

“That has been really nice,” he said. “It gives me some memories. Not everyone at my school can say they have been featured in international news.”

He trades plates he finds in Gibraltar, but not ones that people send to him from other countries.

“They are usually quite special to me,” he said. “I love when they have a backstory.”

One friend sent him a plate she found in a river crossing in Iceland.

“There are loads of glaciers in Iceland, and a lot of river crossings,” he said. “Usually, when the car goes through the river crossing, there is a lot of force applied to the front end of the car which can make the numberplate fall off, especially when it is in a frame and not screwed on.”

Another favourite plate is from Japan and was sent to him by someone in Russia.

“It lights up, and it has the numbers 27-07,” Mr Novotny said. “That’s my birthday, July 27. These plates are quite rare.”

But his collection is not worth much in monetary terms.

“The market is not very high for number plates,” Mr Novotny said. “There are not many collectors. It is not like coins where there are many collectors.”

But there are rare number plates from places such as Malawi in Africa, the Vatican, or from countries that do not exist any more, that are quite costly.

“But you would not get rich from collecting them,” he said.

Mr Novotny’s hobby allows him to learn more about the world.

“I have always loved geography,” he said. “Thanks to all of this collecting, I now have friends in almost any country you can name. These friends usually invite me over to their countries and say they would like to show me around.”

He has not yet taken anyone up on their offer, but hopes to when he is older.

His other hobby is drone photography and videography. He sometimes makes commercials for companies.

For more information write to Tomas Novotny, 7 The Sails, Queensway Quay, Gibraltar GX11 1AA, Europe or e-mail czechr777@gmail.com.