Steven T. Jackson OBE

Steven T. Jackson has spent his working life in British industry. He started young, in his father's scrap yard in Preston in 1979, and he has been connected to the metals trade in the 47 years since. In 1989 he began trading personalised registrations as a sole trader from home in Preston, under the name NU REG and later New Reg, which marked the start of 37 years in the motoring business.

He has a habit of arriving early. In 1995 he founded one of the country's first internet providers, and in 1996 he set up Domains.co.uk, incorporated New Reg Limited on 5 January and put the plate business online. Registrations.co.uk, newreg.co.uk and newreg.com ran in parallel rather than one after another, and New Reg Limited still sits at the centre of the group today.

Being first was noticed. BBC Top Gear featured the New Reg website in the mid 1990s, where Quentin Willson told viewers “You can even buy them on the internet”, the first television reference to private plates being sold online, and he visited the Preston offices. When Auto Trader first went online, New Reg was the only registration dealer selling there, and a commercial deal made it the only registration number dealer on Auto Trader for about three years, with New Reg advising Auto Trader on its internet strategy for private plates. That came before the DVLA sold online, and many months before the next competitor. New Reg is a member of the Cherished Numbers Dealers Association and of MIRAD.

Alongside the motoring business he founded Recycling Lives, setting up its charity in 2006. He designed it as a social business, a commercial operation with social impact at its heart that works alongside an independent charity and funds its work directly. He also set up several social enterprises owned by the charity, trading not for profit to support its objectives. Recycling Lives grew into a substantial national operation and won four Queen's Awards for Enterprise. He exited the business fully in 2020. On 5 June 2026, at the board's request, he led the charity's rebrand, and it continues its work today as Onward Lives.

He has also seen public company life from the inside, serving as a director and then chief executive of Preston North End Football Club between 2002 and 2006.

In 2011 the University of Central Lancashire made him an Honorary Fellow. In the 2013 New Year Honours he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to employment and the community in Lancashire. In 2019 he was the overall United Kingdom winner of EY Entrepreneur of the Year and winner of its Societal Impact category, and the following year he represented the United Kingdom at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Car.co.uk, part of the group, was ranked 74th in the Sunday Times 100 in 2025, and in 2026 it received a King's Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category.

These days he builds. He works hands on across the group's sites and has been the lead developer of Garage.co.uk since 2025, bringing the same eye for detail to software that he has brought to everything else. He remains the founder and person of significant control of New Reg Limited, though not a registered director, and has been resident in Monaco since 2017, where all his business is conducted. Promo.co.uk and its editorial standards reflect that same approach.