New number plates

[lazybloke]

Planning a trip/holiday to France next year and am slightly annoyed that my old number plates are no longer suitable thanks to Boris and chums moving the goalposts. so I have to buy stickers again. Except this time "UK" rather than "GB".
I knew it was coming - it's been in the news before... but you'd think the government would have more useful things to spent time and money on.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58734265

 

[Milkfloat]

It is particularly galling because after a few years we will have to change again after the breakup of the Union. To be fair, I suppose UK is more accurate right now than the former GB. In addition to this nonsense there is a whole raft of other plate changes that are coming into force to make them more visible to ANPR cameras, so it is not all bad.

 

[Craig the cyclist]

Planning a trip/holiday to France next year and am slightly annoyed that my old number plates are no longer suitable thanks to Boris and chums moving the goalposts. so I have to buy stickers again. Except this time "UK" rather than "GB".
I knew it was coming - it's been in the news before... but you'd think the government would have more useful things to spent time and money on.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58734265

£1.49 on Amazon, is that really a big deal?

 

[Fab Foodie]

Pathetic isn’t it? More meaningless jingoistic crap - it’s almost as if the govt. has nothing important to do….

 

[newfhouse]

It’s not the cost that’s annoying, it’s the reason for the change. I admit that as conspiracy theories go it’s not up there with the Illuminati faking Covid-19, but I believe Shapps has done it to accelerate the removal of EU flags from UK index plates.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

… I believe Shapps has done it to accelerate the removal of EU flags from UK index plates.

My plates have the EU flag and I won’t be changing them. No need, as I won’t be driving it abroad anyway.

 

[lazybloke]

£1.49 on Amazon, is that really a big deal?

Thanks, what's your address so we can all send you the bill?

 

[Archie_tect]

I've read through the link but everything carefully ignores what people in Northern Ireland are supposed to display... they can't show a UK badge because N.I isn't part of the UK, but similarly N.I. isn't Ireland either... so will there be a special NI sticker?

The unification of Ireland is drawing nearer day by day.

 

[Craig the cyclist]

It is particularly galling because after a few years we will have to change again after the breakup of the Union.

No, you do not have to change your number plate. But don't let the small matter of the facts get in the way of another Brexit imagined issue. You simply put a UK sticker on your car. If you did want to change your number plate, simply get one with a cross of St George on it, and that should nicely future proof you as well as being legal.

but I believe Shapps has done it to accelerate the removal of EU flags from UK index plates.

There is no requirement to remove the EU flag from your number plate. In fact I have a car, with number plates, and have no flag on them at all.

My plates have the EU flag and I won’t be changing them. No need, as I won’t be driving it abroad anyway.

That is most wise, especially as you don't have to.

What I don't understand is that you are all going on about this huge issue, but no-one is mentioning that the rules for driving in France, but no other country, is that you need to carry a breathalyser and a breathalyser is about £5 instead of £1.50. So you have to do something different in one country to all the others and you haven't batted an eyelid, you have to spend a couple of pounds on a sticker valid everywhere and it is some major bloody trauma!

 

[The Crofted Crest]

the rules for driving in France, but no other country, is that you need to carry a breathalyser

This is not true.

 

[Archie_tect]

What I don't understand is that you are all going on about this huge issue, but no-one is mentioning that the rules for driving in France, but no other country, is that you need to carry a breathalyser and a breathalyser is about £5 instead of £1.50. So you have to do something different in one country to all the others and you haven't batted an eyelid, you have to spend a couple of pounds on a sticker valid everywhere and it is some major bloody trauma!

[Taken from a motoring organisation webpage:]
Breathalysers

France has been up and down regarding breathalysers over the past few years, but at the beginning of 2020 they finally abolished the law that meant you had to carry them. If you want to hear the full story behind their antics, take a look here.

It is worth noting that the general level of alcohol permitted whilst driving in France is lower than in the UK - 0.5mg/ml compared to 0.8mg/ml - although drivers with less than three years experience are restricted even further to 0.2mg/ml. It is best to just accept that you shouldn't drive after consuming any alcohol, until it has cleared out of your system.

 

[The Crofted Crest]

This is not true.

What is true is that the 27 independent sovereign nations that make up the EU do have some different rules such as the obligation to have hi-viz vests, warning triangles, snow chains, winter tyres. Some even have motorway tolls and extra tolls for HGVs. Truly when you leave the UK it's like being in a foreign country.

 

[Milkfloat]

I've read through the link but everything carefully ignores what people in Northern Ireland are supposed to display... they can't show a UK badge because N.I isn't part of the UK, but similarly N.I. isn't Ireland either... so will there be a special NI sticker?

The unification of Ireland is drawing nearer day by day.

N.I. is a constituent country of the UK, the GB sticker was incorrect as it should have been GB and N.I.

 

[Archie_tect]

N.I. is a constituent country of the UK, the GB sticker was incorrect as it should have been GB and N.I.

Doh, sorry... always get that the wrong way round!@

 

[Milkfloat]

No, you do not have to change your number plate. But don't let the small matter of the facts get in the way of another Brexit imagined issue. You simply put a UK sticker on your car. If you did want to change your number plate, simply get one with a cross of St George on it, and that should nicely future proof you as well as being legal.

Firstly I did not say you had to change your number plate at all I just said change. My number plates with GB inside the European Flag will no longer be valid, I will need to either replace the number plates presumably complying with those new rules or put UK stickers over the GB part of the plates. Then in a few years do it all over again. It is not the cost that bothers me, it is the pointlessness of it all and the fact that on the 1st of Jan this year the rules changed from GB within Euro flag to GB on it's own. So we have gone from GB plus Euro to GB no Euro to UK all within 10 months. All this nonsense is just rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.