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Typical Spanish regulation


Matrix Meanderer

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Reading through the new rules about GB driving licences and number plates at:

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-style-driving-licences-and-number-plates-mark-one-year-anniversary-of-brexit-as-eu-flag-is-removed?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=26db28a6-30c6-4a80-a33d-311b83ddf1a9&utm_content=daily

 

I notice that we don't now need a separate GB rear sticker in any EU mainland country except for, you guessed it ... Spain (?)

 

The relevant text is:

 

"Travelling in Europe

You do not need a GB sticker if your number plate includes the GB identifier on its own or with the Union flag. But you will need to display a GB sticker clearly on the rear of your vehicle if your number plate has any of the following:

 

a Euro symbol

a national flag of England, Scotland or Wales

numbers and letters only - no flag or identifier

If you’re in Spain, Cyprus or Malta, you must display a GB sticker no matter what is on your number plate."

 

Typical Spanish attidtude, must be tied in with the Gibraltar situation.

 

On the positive side, we no longer have to have the EU symbol anywhere on our vehicles unless of course you still support the EU.

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Matrix Meanderer - 2021-01-31 2:01 PM

Reading through the new rules about GB driving licences and number plates at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-style-driving-licences-and-number-plates-mark-one-year-anniversary-of-brexit-as-eu-flag-is-removed?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=26db28a6-30c6-4a80-a33d-311b83ddf1a9&utm_content=daily

I notice that we don't now need a separate GB rear sticker in any EU mainland country except for, you guessed it ... Spain (?)

The relevant text is:

"Travelling in Europe

You do not need a GB sticker if your number plate includes the GB identifier on its own or with the Union flag. But you will need to display a GB sticker clearly on the rear of your vehicle if your number plate has any of the following:

a Euro symbol

a national flag of England, Scotland or Wales

numbers and letters only - no flag or identifier

If you’re in Spain, Cyprus or Malta, you must display a GB sticker no matter what is on your number plate."

Typical Spanish attidtude, must be tied in with the Gibraltar situation.

On the positive side, we no longer have to have the EU symbol anywhere on our vehicles unless of course you still support the EU.

You seem to have failed to notice, over the past 45 years, that the individual states still have, and impose, their own rules and laws in a number of areas. :-)

 

Spain is one such. It signed and ratified the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (in force from March 1952), under which the oval national identifiers are required, but has only signed, but not ratified, the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (in force from May 1977), which introduced the blue left margin of both front and rear registration plates carrying the national identifier.

 

The EU adopted the Vienna Convention, so Spain was obliged to admit vehicles carrying the EU flag and national identifier but, now Britain has left the EU, vehicles registered in Great Britain are obliged to revert to the requirements of the earlier, 1949, Geneva Convention requirement, and carry an oval GB sticker. Plain white background with black "GB" lettering.

 

So, it seems it is no more than an historic accident. :-D

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mtravel - 2021-01-31 2:48 PM

 

But in Spain you have to have two emergency triangles, whether yours license is EU or not.

So ?

 

Is that indeed the case?

 

My understanding was that Spanish law actually demands that non-Spanish registered vehicles only need carry ONE warning triangle, while Spanish-registered vehicles must carry TWO triangles.

 

However, UK motorists have historically always been advised that, when driving in Spain, they should carry two triangles to avoid the possibility of the Spanish police fining them regardless of the regulations.

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Derek Uzzell - 2021-01-31 5:16 PM

 

mtravel - 2021-01-31 2:48 PM

 

But in Spain you have to have two emergency triangles, whether yours license is EU or not.

So ?

 

Is that indeed the case?

 

My understanding was that Spanish law actually demands that non-Spanish registered vehicles only need carry ONE warning triangle, while Spanish-registered vehicles must carry TWO triangles.

 

However, UK motorists have historically always been advised that, when driving in Spain, they should carry two triangles to avoid the possibility of the Spanish police fining them regardless of the regulations.

All according to this; https://tinyurl.com/yy7djdc3

 

But from 2025......an amber flashing light! (lol) https://tinyurl.com/y3mgd3k4

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Derek Uzzell - 2021-01-31 5:16 PM.............................However, UK motorists have historically always been advised that, when driving in Spain, they should carry two triangles to avoid the possibility of the Spanish police fining them regardless of the regulations.

I think that is on the time-honoured basis that the Spanish police carry guns, and one should never argue with a man carrying a gun! :-D

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Derek Uzzell - 2021-01-31 6:16 PM

 

My understanding was that Spanish law actually demands that non-Spanish registered vehicles only need carry ONE warning triangle, while Spanish-registered vehicles must carry TWO triangles.

 

Maybe, but I haven't found any exemptions for foreign vehicles. I usually refer to https://n332.es/

 

Note: The triangles are about to be abandoned and will be replaced by a flashing light to be placed on the roof.

See:

https://n332.es/portable-warning-lights-may-become-compulsory/

https://n332.es/warning-triangles-to-be-replaced/

https://www.elconfidencial.com/motor/2021-01-04/dgt-triangulos-emergencia-coche-cambio-luces_2844495/

At the moment I believe that its mandatory will go into effect in 2024.

 

Max

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Bulletguy - 2021-01-31 5:30 PM

 

Derek Uzzell - 2021-01-31 5:16 PM

 

mtravel - 2021-01-31 2:48 PM

 

But in Spain you have to have two emergency triangles, whether yours license is EU or not.

So ?

 

Is that indeed the case?

 

My understanding was that Spanish law actually demands that non-Spanish registered vehicles only need carry ONE warning triangle, while Spanish-registered vehicles must carry TWO triangles.

 

However, UK motorists have historically always been advised that, when driving in Spain, they should carry two triangles to avoid the possibility of the Spanish police fining them regardless of the regulations.

All according to this; https://tinyurl.com/yy7djdc3

 

But from 2025......an amber flashing light! (lol) https://tinyurl.com/y3mgd3k4

 

These three links advise two triangles only for Spanish-regisered vehicles

 

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/country/spain/

 

https://www.startrescue.co.uk/breakdown-cover/motoring-advice/driving-in-europe/compulsory-equipment-when-driving-in-europe

 

https://www.expatica.com/es/living/transportation/driving-in-spain-101425/

 

The Spanish ‘one triangle or two’ thing was discussed here in 2014

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Warning-Triangle-s-in-Spain/33610/

 

(Interesting that, in 2014, I was evidently able to use colour easily when posting.)

 

Regarding Brian’s comment, on July 14 2005 (Bastille Day) I was on the quay at Le Havre waitiing to board the ferry with the new Hobby motorhome I’d picked up in Germany a week before. I’d been on my own and had rapidly reverted to ‘rogue male’ mode. France was in a state of terrorism red alert and vehicles and their occupants were being carefully scrutinised. A trio of youngish female (armed) customs officers were there with not much to do and one decided that she’d go through the Hobby’s and my documentation (obviously not in French) in fine detail. I soon got fed up with the interrogation and said something on the lines of “Do you really think that a scruffy 60-years old Englishman driving a motorhome might be a terrorist or drug smuggler?” and one of her colleagues said “Take no notice - she’s just having a bad day.” Then along the queue came another (male) customs officer accompanied by a soldier in special forces kit, carrying a black machine-pistol and with eyes like a crocodile’s. I kept my mouth very tightly shut.

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Derek Uzzell - 2021-02-01 11:24 AM

 

Bulletguy - 2021-01-31 5:30 PM

 

Derek Uzzell - 2021-01-31 5:16 PM

 

mtravel - 2021-01-31 2:48 PM

 

But in Spain you have to have two emergency triangles, whether yours license is EU or not.

So ?

 

Is that indeed the case?

 

My understanding was that Spanish law actually demands that non-Spanish registered vehicles only need carry ONE warning triangle, while Spanish-registered vehicles must carry TWO triangles.

 

However, UK motorists have historically always been advised that, when driving in Spain, they should carry two triangles to avoid the possibility of the Spanish police fining them regardless of the regulations.

All according to this; https://tinyurl.com/yy7djdc3

 

But from 2025......an amber flashing light! (lol) https://tinyurl.com/y3mgd3k4

 

These three links advise two triangles only for Spanish-regisered vehicles

 

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/country/spain/

 

https://www.startrescue.co.uk/breakdown-cover/motoring-advice/driving-in-europe/compulsory-equipment-when-driving-in-europe

 

https://www.expatica.com/es/living/transportation/driving-in-spain-101425/

 

The Spanish ‘one triangle or two’ thing was discussed here in 2014

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Warning-Triangle-s-in-Spain/33610/

Never mind Derek.....in four years time you may (or may not) need to add a flashing beacon to the safety bits you carry! :-D

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mtravel - 2021-02-01 12:04 PM

 

This instead doesn't mention foreigner vehicles.

 

https://www.dgt.es/es/sistemas-seguridad-vehiculos/equipamiento-obligatorio-en-el-vehiculo/index.shtml

 

The rest is up to you. when I go to Spain I have two triangles.

 

Max

I think that's wise. Fortunately I never had to use mine but it's one of those things you need to carry.

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