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Now Uniform Kilo not Golf Bravo!


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Brian Kirby - 2021-09-29 2:58 PM

 

Only, I think, if driving abroad, Jeremy - unless you have heard otherwise. I understand that existing number plates with GB and Euro stars can be retained, but if they are must be supplemented with a UK sticker on the rear of the vehicle.

A timely reminder, for which thanks.

 

Yes Brian - of course, but not much point having a UK sticker if you don't go abroad.

Plus I wouldn't trust the average Gendarme or Guardia to know the ins & outs, so an on the spot fine could happen? Even if you have the numberplate UK with Union Jack,.... for Spain Cyprus and Malta you must have a separate UK sticker.

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If I'm forced to use Uniform Kilo, so be it.

But I think I will also continue to display Sierra Charlie Oscar, and Echo Charlie Oscar Sierra Sierra Echo. They have previously led to interesting and affable conversations with the many European friends we have met travelling, and I expect that to continue unabated in the future. :-D

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The relevant gov.uk guidance can be read here

 

https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates/flags-symbols-and-identifiers

 

Driving outside the UK

 

If your number plate includes the UK identifier with the Union flag (also known as the Union Jack), you do not need a UK sticker.

 

However, you will need to display a UK sticker clearly on the rear of your vehicle if your number plate has any of the following:

 

- a GB identifier with the Union flag

- 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 UK sticker no matter what is on your number plate.

 

If you have a GB sticker, cover or remove it before driving outside the UK.

 

You do not need a UK sticker or number plate to drive in Ireland.

 

“The Connexion” news website recently published an article on this and said they would be asking the French authorities whether there was an intention to enforce this GB-to-UK ’sticker’ revision in future.

 

This “The Local” article

 

https://www.thelocal.fr/20210902/uk-introduces-a-new-car-sticker-requirement-for-driving-in-france/

 

says

 

Clearly displaying the country of origin of your vehicle is an international requirement and if you are stopped by French police without one you can be issued with an on-the-spot fine (although it’s unclear how bothered French police will be about the intricacies of UK v GB).

 

There’s a list of in-France driving offences/penalties here

 

https://www.french-property.com/guides/france/driving-in-france/driving-offences-penalties

 

but, although there’s an offence of "Using a vehicle with no plates or unreadable plates”, I’m not sure whether this could be applied to a UK motorist with the now ‘wrong’ sticker/number-plate on his/her vehicle.

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Derek Uzzell - 2021-09-30 7:57 AM

The relevant gov.uk guidance can be read here

https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates/flags-symbols-and-identifiers ...............................

The requirement to identify the country of registration of a vehicle when it is being driven in another country arises through the Vienna Convention on International Traffic, of which the UK is an original signatory. The UK government gave the Convention "administrators" (I believe the UNECE) notice that it wished the UK to be identified by the letters UK in lieu of GB - but has not said why it wished to introduce the change. The change has now been formalised and the Convention amended and annotated accordingly and, as Jeremy said at the top, the change has effect from 28 September 2021.

 

As above, there are two ways to show the international identifier. One is by carrying the familiar oval plate with the letters UK in black on a white background. The other is by carrying registration (or number) plates bearing a 50mm wide blue strip down the left hand edge of each plate (front and rear) carrying the letters UK in the plate background colour (white front, yellow rear). It is also permissible for the blue strip to carry a "badge" showing the Union Flag, but this is not a formal requirement. It is the letters "UK" which legally identify where the vehicle is registered in international traffic, the flag has no legal status.

 

If you wish to obtain new plates that do not also carry the Union Flag, good luck! It seems the government favours us all "carrying the flag" and has emphasised the flagged version of the new "UK" registration plates to the trade, to the extent that I have been unable to find either replacement plates, or stickers to cover the existing "Euro" stars, that do not carry the flag. Enquiries suggest that the trade is unaware that the version minus the flag is equally legal. If anyone has fund any, I'd be grateful for the details, please.

 

I'm also intrigued as to why/how Spain, Cyprus, and Malta are able to require the separate UK sticker whether or not the registration plates carries the UK identifier. Does any know?

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Brian Kirby - 2021-09-30 2:52 PM

 

...I'm also intrigued as to why/how Spain, Cyprus, and Malta are able to require the separate UK sticker whether or not the registration plates carries the UK identifier. Does any know?

 

I can’t give you a simple answer, but this JANUARY 2021 link relating to post-Brexit GB sticker requirements

 

https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/brexit-eu-number-plates-gb-stickers/

 

said

 

Cars with registration plates that display numbers and letters only – i.e. no flag or identifier – must display a GB sticker as well.

 

The government adds that if you’re in Spain, Cyprus or Malta, you must display a GB sticker no matter what is on your number plate.

 

However, a GB sticker is not required to drive in Ireland.

 

So the present advice relating to Spain, Cyprus and Malta and those countries' insistence on a separate UK sticker merely mirrors earlier 'post-Brexit’ advice with UK replacing GB on the sticker.

 

(Presumably those three countries have unique national motoring regulations relating to visiting vehicles that are not registered in EU countries - or the advice is wrong...)

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Brian Kirby - 2021-09-30 5:02 PM

 

There are indeed, but none that I could see minus the flag. Have I missed it?

 

No. As you said earlier, although a ‘badge-less’ “UK”-only stripe on a registration plate should be 100% legal in and outside the UK, UK governmental guidance is that the stripe should also carry the Union Flag and (unsurprisingly) makers of registration plates and stripe stickers have all put the flag on.

 

(As a founder member of the HAG (Herefordshire Anarchist Group) I’ve emphasised my extreme displeasure at this flag thing by taking a scalpel to the stripes I’ll be fitting to my motorhome’s registration plates and inverting the Union Flag so that it’s wrong way up - that’ll show ‘em!!)

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Derek Uzzell - 2021-10-01 8:50 AM

 

 

(As a founder member of the HAG (Herefordshire Anarchist Group) I’ve emphasised my extreme displeasure at this flag thing by taking a scalpel to the stripes I’ll be fitting to my motorhome’s registration plates and inverting the Union Flag so that it’s wrong way up - that’ll show ‘em!!)

 

good on you B-)

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teccer1234 - 2021-10-01 10:08 AM

 

Derek Uzzell - 2021-10-01 8:50 AM

 

 

(As a founder member of the HAG (Herefordshire Anarchist Group) I’ve emphasised my extreme displeasure at this flag thing by taking a scalpel to the stripes I’ll be fitting to my motorhome’s registration plates and inverting the Union Flag so that it’s wrong way up - that’ll show ‘em!!)

 

good on you B-)

 

Not at all!!!

Off with his head!

 

This flag is upside down because the narrow white bands are on top.

 

To deliberately fly the flag upside down is a signal indicating a situation of 'DISTRESS'. It is also "lese Majeste" (which means: insulting the Crown), and is theoretically still a crime in the UK and its commonwealth!

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Guest pelmetman
Derek Uzzell - 2021-10-01 8:50 AM

 

(As a founder member of the HAG (Herefordshire Anarchist Group) I’ve emphasised my extreme displeasure at this flag thing by taking a scalpel to the stripes I’ll be fitting to my motorhome’s registration plates and inverting the Union Flag so that it’s wrong way up - that’ll show ‘em!!)

 

That sounds a bit Chatterboxy to me 8-) .......

P1010899.JPG.426d34978a4144fbbfda4fa7fa725c67.JPG

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