Different EU sign on number plate?

Kotek Besar

Quick question: if a car is registered in Ireland, can the owner choose to display number plates that bear another EU country's sign / abbreviation, rather than IRL?

What I mean is, say you drive a VW or Merc, could you make a German style number plate (including D in place of IRL), bearing your Irish registration number, and legally display it on your car?

Honey-ec

benifa wrote: »

Quick question: if a car is registered in Ireland, can the owner choose to display number plates that bear another EU country's sign / abbreviation, rather than IRL?

What I mean is, say you drive a VW or Merc, could you make a German style number plate (including D in place of IRL), bearing your Irish registration number, and legally display it on your car?

As far as I'm aware the legal requirements for number plates in Ireland are that it must be plain black lettering on a white background (italics & shading not permitted), it must have the EU flag and the country code, and it must have the county name in Irish across the top.

Out of curiosity, why would you want a different country's code on it?

msg11

Too suit were the car is built is what I am guessing?

As far as I don't it is not legal to do that..

L1011

If the car is new enough to need "euro" plates, you must have the country the car is registered in. Will fail your NCT if not.

Cionád

It would also be illegal to take abroad, unless you covered it up and got yourself an IRL sticker for the back.

craichoe

Aye, GB Cars dont have EU plates at all and either require a EU Style plate or can use the standard plate with a GB sticker on the back WHEN ABROAD.

When in the UK there is no such need for a Euro Plate.

Kotek Besar

Honey-ec wrote: »

Out of curiosity, why would you want a different country's code on it?

It's just a hypothetical question really. I've seen a VW Golf GTI going around Waterford with an Irish reg, but in German style (including the D in place of IRL), just wondered if it was legal or if the owner was just chancing it.

Also, my Dad in the UK has an old (semi-classic) Ford Transit. It's a UK vehicle with UK reg, but with a Malta style plate (he likes Malta that much:P).

This is his Transit:

TheDriver

not legal, as is having a different county name on your reg or the wrong type lettering etc, all nct fails afaik

Max_Damage

If the veh-ickle is registered before 1991, it can have anything it wants on the reg. plate.

Saruman

craichoe wrote: »

Aye, GB Cars dont have EU plates at all and either require a EU Style plate or can use the standard plate with a GB sticker on the back WHEN ABROAD.

When in the UK there is no such need for a Euro Plate.

Actually they do now. Im not sure if its all of them but i know they have the Euro symbol now on new cars I do not think you HAVE to have it though as not all new cars have them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_car_number_plates

Max_Damage

Saruman wrote: »

Actually they do now. Im not sure if its all of them but i know they have the Euro symbol now on new cars.

Not true, they are still optional.

Denmark also don't have any Euroband on their reg. plates either.

Alun

craichoe wrote: »

Aye, GB Cars dont have EU plates at all and either require a EU Style plate or can use the standard plate with a GB sticker on the back WHEN ABROAD.

When in the UK there is no such need for a Euro Plate.

I'm not sure if they *have* to have them, but they certainly are available, and you do see the occasional one. You do quite often see plates with the English, Welsh, Scottish or even Cornish flags on them, which have no legal standing whatsoever, and usually only carried on cars owned by anti-EU, Daily Mail reading types (to make a point, whatever that may be). More often than not though, it'll just be a plain plate. Either way, legally, seeing as they don't have the standard euro plate, they require a proper GB sticker when travelling abroad.

Cionád

Alun wrote: »

I'm not sure if they *have* to have them, but they certainly are available, and you do see the occasional one. You do quite often see plates with the English, Welsh, Scottish or even Cornish flags on them, which have no legal standing whatsoever, and usually only carried on cars owned by anti-EU, Daily Mail reading types (to make a point, whatever that may be). More often than not though, it'll just be a plain plate. Either way, legally, seeing as they don't have the standard euro plate, they require a proper GB sticker when travelling abroad.

I was just about to post exactly this!

Also just to add you often notice on the continent on Northern cars some have GB, others NI and others again IRL stickers along with their northern plate. I don't know if they are technically allowed to have the NI or IRL ones though...

Max_Damage

Cionád wrote: »

I was just about to post exactly this!

Also just to add you often notice on the continent on Northern cars some have GB, others NI and others again IRL stickers along with their northern plate. I don't know if they are technically allowed to have the NI or IRL ones though...

Legally they don't have to have any Euroband on their plates. Any that you may see are purely personal choice by the owner.

Here's a website on what does and doesn't have Eurobands: http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/world/EU.html

Cionád

Max_Damage wrote: »

Legally they don't have to have any Euroband on their plates. Any that you may see are purely personal choice by the owner.

Yea, I mean the stickers that you have to display when abroad, not the actual plates.

Kotek Besar

Now I'm confused. If GB / IRL etc are not legally required to be displayed on number plates, then by the same token it shouldn't be illegal to display another country EU initials, should you wish?

Saruman

Max_Damage wrote: »

Not true, they are still optional.

I did say i did not think you have to have them.

Cionád

benifa wrote: »

Now I'm confused. If GB / IRL etc are not legally required to be displayed on number plates, then by the same token it shouldn't be illegal to display another country EU initials, should you wish?

But they are legally required in Ireland (since 1991)

Kotek Besar

Cionád wrote: »

..Northern cars some have GB, others NI and others again IRL stickers along with their northern plate. I don't know if they are technically allowed to have the NI or IRL ones though...

Now that's an interesting one. I don't think cars from NI can display GB, since Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain. But they can't display NI either, since Northern Ireland is not in itself an EU member state (but then Great Britain isn't either).

Why on earth did Britain decide to display GB (which ignores Northern Ireland), instead of displaying UK? Surely the latter would have been a more logical decision?

craichoe

Alun wrote: »

I'm not sure if they *have* to have them, but they certainly are available, and you do see the occasional one. You do quite often see plates with the English, Welsh, Scottish or even Cornish flags on them, which have no legal standing whatsoever, and usually only carried on cars owned by anti-EU, Daily Mail reading types (to make a point, whatever that may be). More often than not though, it'll just be a plain plate. Either way, legally, seeing as they don't have the standard euro plate, they require a proper GB sticker when travelling abroad.

Not having a standard Euro plate or GB sticker in the Netherlands carries an on the spot fine of 80 yoyos and you have to pay in cash !

It is a requirment ! ..

Also the same if you don't have beam benders fitted and in all likelyhood they'll tow the car for not having correct lighting.

Kotek Besar

Cionád wrote: »

But they are legally required in Ireland (since 1991)

Ah, got it. Cheers.

Cionád

benifa wrote: »

Now that's an interesting one. I don't think cars from NI can display GB, since Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain. But they can't display NI either, since Northern Ireland is not in itself an EU member state (but then Great Britain isn't either).

Why on earth did Britain decide to display GB (which ignores Northern Ireland), instead of displaying UK? Surely the latter would have been a more logical decision?

Spent the last 10 mins checking this out lol

Legally they do have to have GB apparently even though they are not in GB. Despite this many display NI or IRL instead.
Why the british chose GB i don't know, they do have UK on their driving licenses.
Theres an interesting piece on it on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_car_number_plates#European_plates_and_the_GB_controversy

from http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/general_advice.html#GB

GB Sticker
Compulsory, and failure to comply could result in an on-the-spot fine.
Euro-plates - number plates that include the GB euro-symbol - have been legal since March 2001 and make display of a conventional sticker unnecessary within the EU.

Kotek Besar

Cionád wrote: »

Spent the last 10 mins checking this out lol..

Thanks Cionád.

From the wikipedia article:

Proposals were made to change the "GB" code to "UK"; for the obvious reason that the UK is the member state of the EC whereas "GB" indicating Great Britain is a purely geographical rather than political term; but this came to nothing[citation needed]. Logically, the United Kingdom driving licence, common to both Great Britain and Northern Ireland, features the country identifier "UK" inside the European stars, not "GB"[7].

I'd love to know why the alleged proposals to change the "GB" code to "UK" were dismissed. It just doesn't make sense. As you've pointed out, the UK driving licences bear the UK identifier and not GB.

Max_Damage

benifa wrote: »

I'd love to know why the alleged proposals to change the "GB" code to "UK" were dismissed. It just doesn't make sense. As you've pointed out, the UK driving licences bear the UK identifier and not GB.

Same difference, no?

Cionád

Max_Damage wrote: »

Same difference, no?

GB = Great Britain.
UK = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

So Northern Ireland is not in Great Britain, it's in the United Kingdom.

Same difference? - depends on the individual I suppose.

L1011

Eurobands display the ISO 3166-1 code for the country, which is GB as this is the road traffic convention worldwide.

However, driving licences in europe use European Union codes which have different codes for the UK and Greece. Don't ask me why...

G Luxel

I cant remember the last time I saw a GB sticker on the bootlid of any car but I have seen a few IRL stickers on post 1991 cars which already have this EU sticker on their number plate...

su_dios

To satisfy the OPs curiosity a bit more than the other posts debating the whole GB thing, yes german style plates are popular. I have a set on mine at the moment.

However, they are not strictly legal.
There had been discussion on a forum I got the plates from, where 'D' instead of 'IRL' seemed to cause some trouble with the Guards so you may as well go for IRL instead. If you're getting the plates get the spacing in the right places too. The letters are easier to read although the 0 and 8s don't fully close up but you can easily tell which is which. If they're ledgible in Germany than they are here too!

I have the format [ IRL 07 D 78*** ] I chose not to get the Baile atha cliath at the top because the letters are slightly bigger and the bac bit gets squashed. These have never caused any hassle to date with the Guards and have passed many checkpoints. You will need to swap them over for NCT though (although a few have passed on them).

For the safer option get the name above the number and IRL. Note I don't have the hyphen on mine..

This may spark a legal debate and while I realise they are not strictly legal they are still; clearly legible, spaced and display the IRL sign. I hardly think that people will have a problem wondering where a 'D' reg comes from.

Stephen

The font used on German plates is actually designed for maximum legibility, and to elimenate any ambiguity - i.e. no way to mistake a 1 for an I or 0 for O, etc. I prefer them to our own but can't really be bothered with getting a set made up, especially since I drive a Japanese car :pac:

Richard

Cionád wrote: »

Why the british chose GB i don't know, they do have UK on their driving licenses.

I believe that when these things were decided, the UK and the Ukraine both wanted "UK" (although the Ukraine wasn't independent, the Soviet Union kept it semi-independent so they could get more UN representation or something).

Anyway, the compromise was that neither country got UK. The UK got GB and the Ukraine got UA.

IRL is, of course, illegal on Northern Ireland plates, though NI is illegal also. GB with euro stars is legal, but not compulsory.

As an alternative, UK cars can also display ENG, SCO or CYM, with the appropriate flag, but not NI (or its flag, for understandable reasons).

Cars must display a GB oval if outside the UK (unless they have a GB Euro-plate and are inside the EU) but I don't know if any NI drivers getting into trouble for displaying an IRL oval (or no oval at all). In fact, the majority of NI cars I've seen in the Republic don't display any oval, and no-one cares.

Alun

Richard wrote: »

I believe that when these things were decided, the UK and the Ukraine both wanted "UK" (although the Ukraine wasn't independent, the Soviet Union kept it semi-independent so they could get more UN representation or something).

It was more due to the fact that when these things were first introduced in Britain (in 1910) there was actually no such thing as the UK And the Ukrainian one was only adopted in 1992.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_license_plate_codes