Determination of the authenticity of an inked entry in a motor cycle registration book. 1. Introduction 1.1 A request was received for an examination to be carried out on the subject registration book to determine if the Frame Number recorded on Page 8 of the book was the same as that which was entered when the registration book was issued by the Lancashire County Council's Licenses Office on the 16th December 1954. 1.2 The registration book submitted for examination was identified with the number 0735121 and it covered a 250cc BSA motor cycle Registration Mark GTD 186. The book had replaced a previous book and it recorded that the vehicle had been first registered on the 26th July 1946. 2. Examination Results 2.1 The page of the Registration Book containing the entry under investigation is shown on Plate 01. Initial visual examination showed that all the inked entries except those recording the frame and engine numbers had apparently been made using a split nibbed pen and a liquid ink. The ink had faded considerably in places, the 2 in the 'Date of original' entry being almost illegible (arrowed on Plate 01). The overall marking 'VEHICLE REGISTRATION' in the card from which the book had been constructed was visible overall. The book had been folded many times across its mid length. The fold was in the same position as the inked entry under investigation (see Plate 02) and the entry appeared to have been wetted at some time with a liquid in which the ink was soluble as the ink had 'run' (this had also occurred in the Second Change entry on Page 6). 2.2 Macro examination of the region containing the entry under investigation showed that the surface fibres in the card had not been cut back or abraded. It was clearly evident that the original split nibbed pen entry recording the engine number had been over inked with a pen using a different coloured ink at some time (see Plate 03). The over inked entry appeared to be in the same ink as the Frame Number entry. Some numbers in the Frame Number had again been clarified in part or in whole (notably the 10 and the 6) probably with a ball point pen (see Plates 03 and 04 - note also the undisturbed surface fibres on Plate 04). 3. Conclusions 3.1 It considered that the Frame Number entry in the subject Registration Book, although over inked in part or in whole in the past correctly recorded the original entry made when the book was issued on the 16th December 1954. 3.2 It is also considered that the requirement for over inking the Frame Number resulted from a combination of folding the book at the position where the Frame Number was recorded and ink fading. NOTE. A very similar ink to that used for the first over inking of the Frame and Engine Number entries is present in the entry recording the issue of a license by the Yorkshire West Riding Licenses Office on the 13th January 1958 (this entry had not been wetted and consequently had not 'run'). It is considered that it is possible that the first over inking of both the Frame and Engine numbers was made at that time.