Mrs Carson took a taxi to meet three friends for lunch. Excited to see them, she accidentally left her tote bag in the taxi as it pulled away. The friends quickly tried to memorise the license plate so they could later identify the taxi when calling the company. Each woman reports a slightly different license plate. Which of the following is most likely to be the correct license plate number of the taxi?

Introduction / Context:
This is a typical “judgement and observation” puzzle. Several people see the same license plate very briefly and each recalls it with small differences. You are asked to judge which license plate is most likely to be the actual one. The key skill is to use knowledge of how license plates are usually designed and to recognise likely human errors in quickly reading letters and numbers.

Given Data / Assumptions:

Mrs Carson and her three friends see the taxi's license plate only for a moment.
They recall license plates that look very similar but not identical.
Possible license plates given as options include combinations such as JYK 12L, JXK 12I, JXX 12L and JXK 12L.
We assume standard English letters and digits on plates; certain letters like I are often avoided because they resemble digits.

Concept / Approach:
People commonly misread or misremember characters that look similar, such as X and Y, or I and 1, when they are under time pressure. Also, some license plate systems avoid using confusing letters like I and O. Therefore, the most likely true plate is the one that looks regular and that can be obtained by making small, plausible reading mistakes from it, rather than a plate that contains unusual or confusing characters itself.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Look at the pattern of all given options: they all share J as the first letter and 12 as the digits, and most end with L. The main disagreements are in the second and third letters (Y versus X versus K) and in one case, the last character being I instead of L. Real license plate systems often avoid the letter I, because it can be confused with the digit 1. Thus JXK 12I is less likely to be the actual plate. JXX 12L has a double X, which is visually striking and would be relatively easy to remember correctly, making it less likely that all friends would misreport it in different ways. JXK 12L follows a simple pattern: three distinct letters followed by two digits and a final letter L, and does not contain visually confusing characters. From such a plate, it is easy to see how someone could misread X as Y and L as I or vice versa, producing the other variants. Therefore JXK 12L is the most regular and plausible original plate.

Verification / Alternative check:
Imagine JXK 12L as the true plate. A quick glance could make one friend remember JYK 12L (confusing X and Y). Another friend could recall JXK 12I (confusing L with I). A third might remember JXX 12L (misreading K as X). All these are realistic one-character errors that could easily arise from JXK 12L. Starting from any other option, it is harder to explain all the variants as simply and plausibly.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
JYK 12L requires multiple less common confusions to generate the other options.
JXK 12I contains the confusing letter I, which many plate systems avoid; it is more likely to be a misread L than the true character.
JXX 12L is visually distinct; if that were correct, it is less likely that all observers would misremember it differently.
JYK 12I combines both Y and I, increasing the chance that it is itself a misreading of a simpler original plate like JXK 12L.

Common Pitfalls:
One common mistake is to assume that the answer must be the plate that seems most “unusual” and therefore memorable. In such puzzles, the opposite is often true: the real plate is simple and regular, while the unusual ones arise from misreadings. Another pitfall is to ignore real-world patterns of license plate design, such as avoiding ambiguous characters like I and O.

Final Answer:
The most likely license plate number of the taxi is JXK 12L.