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Topic: GB Plates

Suzac

11/9/2018 at 9:01pm
Location: Devon
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I am sure I'm right in saying that GB plates, either on the registration no plate or as a separate sticker are still a legal requirement in Europe. After disembarking at Cherbourg last week with the caravan I'm sure that we were overtaken by several cars not displaying a GB plate but with an obvious UK car and reg.no. Anyone else noticed this?

Post last edited on 11/09/2018 21:42:02

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Ewen c

11/9/2018 at 9:17pm
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If you have an EU plate with a GB on the left, you do not need a separate GB sticker. The EU country identifier is not mandatory in the UK so if it isn't on your plate then you need a sticker.
Most other, if not all, EU countries have their country code on the left as the norm so do not need a sticker.

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Suzac

11/9/2018 at 9:35pm
Location: Devon
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Yes I am aware of that but the cars that I saw didn't have either. Changed my car recently and my local car accessories store did the caravan replacement sticker with no GB on it.

Just checked the car !! And the garage that I bought the car from didn't either. Been driving around France with no GB plate on the back.

Luckily I have some CAMC red pennant issue GB stickers with me!

Probably the ones I saw travelling down had done the same thing.

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Ewen c

11/9/2018 at 9:46pm
Location: County Kildare Ireland EU.
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Just as well you had them. I haven't bothered as I have Irish plates and never given it a thought.

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latecamper

12/9/2018 at 8:07am
Location: West Sussex
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Our car was registered in 2000. We have been camping in France each year for between 4 and 6 weeks a year, regularly doing about 2000 miles.

The plate does not have a little GB on it and we do not have a stick-on GB sticker.

We were witnesses to a minor accident a few years ago and spoke to the police for a while.

Never been stopped for speeding.

No one has questioned or noticed the lack of GB on the car.

I gather from the above it's not a big deal.

Latecamper

Suzac

12/9/2018 at 8:26am
Location: Devon
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About 6 years ago our car was broken into in Spain in a side road close to a beach. There was a row of other cars parked and I've always thought it was the GB sticker which attracted the thief - don't steal from the locals but it's ok for UK holidaymakers!!!

As it happened all they got was an empty "bum bag" but the inconvenience sorting a broken rear passenger window was a pain.

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Pixie_Hez

12/9/2018 at 9:32am
Location: Liverpool
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We had our GB sticker nicked off the back of our car in France a few years ago, probably by a Brit who forgot to bring one! There is no way it fell off, it had to have been taken off! We ended up phoning my brother-in-law who put a new one in the post to us. It arrived about 3 days later but in that time, we had no choice but to drive around without one. We changed to the GB number plate as soon as we got home!

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Ewen c

12/9/2018 at 9:38am
Location: County Kildare Ireland EU.
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Quote: Originally posted by Suzac on 12/9/2018
About 6 years ago our car was broken into in Spain in a side road close to a beach. There was a row of other cars parked and I've always thought it was the GB sticker which attracted the thief - don't steal from the locals but it's ok for UK holidaymakers!!!

As it happened all they got was an empty "bum bag" but the inconvenience sorting a broken rear passenger window was a pain.

The foreign number plate probably was probably just as much an attraction.UK plates stick out compared to others.

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Kelper

12/9/2018 at 10:59am
Location: Northern Ireland
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We don't have one on our car.

Never had a problem.

The plate on the back of the caravan does have GB built in ... but the car is free of it.

Oh so camp

12/9/2018 at 12:15pm
Location: Bolton
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Never had a GBP late on our latest mistake.

lizex

12/9/2018 at 8:10pm
Location: None Entered
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I think the situation is the gendarmes have bigger fish to fry. If they catch you trying to break the land speed record and find cocaine in your glove box and then you're lippy to them, they might do you for not having a GB sticker and a breathalyser as well as all the above and probably get out the rubber gloves as well. But if you're just a tourist driving normally they aren't going to bother. Not worth the effort.

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

Fiona W

03/10/2018 at 12:02pm
Location: Ayrshire
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www.gov.uk (official website) says, in bold, "you'll still need a GB sticker when travelling in Europe if you display one of these national flags & identifiers", referring to the flags and identifiers (saltire & SCO, for example) on the LHS of the number plate.
It then says "if you display the Euro symbol and GB national identifier on your number plate, then you don't need a separate GB sticker when travelling within the European Union". It then specifies the dimensions of the EU symbol.
Maybe the EU police have other more important concerns than checking what's stuck on the rear of the car or caravan, unless they have other reasons to stop you.

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blueexpo97

03/10/2018 at 1:15pm
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What it says and the reality are two completely different things.

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Baddab

03/10/2018 at 9:05pm
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You must display a GB sticker but if you don't it would have to be very picky of the French police to stop you for it.

However picking up on Suzac's point many many years ago when the kids were young we had a caravan which had a Scottish flag on the back, not a problem for us we are Scottish. The van was broken into in the Cotswolds only can we well. Then when we stopped in Carlisle it was actually attacked by a stag do on the way home.

I guess tourists are always targets

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SGThomas

04/10/2018 at 7:16am
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I was talking to a British camper near Sete who was moaning that

" the bloody French police pulled him over for speeding, did him for overloading and they then had the cheek to do him for no GB sticker"

Made me proud to be British!

oxter

04/10/2018 at 11:53am
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You can saw the GB off any number plate (scrap yard etc) and stick it on, or adjacent to your number plate. Sorted.

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