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4 minutes ago, iain said:

Well these GB plates have been on VHP since Nov 57 and they are staying there.

You don't have to take the GB ones off, they just don't mean anything any more.

 

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5 hours ago, RobH said:

...they just don't mean anything any more...

Yes they do.

I’m sure that they mean exactly the same as they did in 1955, when I first saw a car with a “GB” plate on it.

 

I said to my dad:

“Why has that car got the letters ‘GB’ on the back?”

 

He replied:

“It means that they have ‘ Gone ‘Broad’ with their car. “

I think it still means the same today.

Charlie.

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That reminds me of am occasion many,many years ago whilst travelling through my home town of Walthamstow and following a Rolls Royce with the number plate MB 1 with the GB plate just below it, it quite suddenly turned sharp without signalling right into the Granada cinema parking area, my father commented on whose car it was and what the initials stood for to which my non driving mother replied "Mad Bugger Gone Barmy". it was of course Max Bygraves who was appearing an stage there that evening.

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To me GB and UK are equal, but I’m biassed:)

Waldi from Holland, aka The Netherlands.

 

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On 7/14/2021 at 1:08 PM, duncan said:

Which is more likely to alert foreigners to a rhd car, I wonder  GB or UK ?  

Can any of our foreign based member comment, does any country refer to us as UK ?

Speaking as an Italian who lived in ENGLAND/BRITAIN/GREAT BRITAIN/UNITED KINGDOM (before moving to Ireland), I have heard expats refer to the UK as Britain, not Great Britain, or else to the UK. Foreigners often refer to the nation as a whole as England.

Speaking as a foreigner, UK seems less specific, could be any monarchy, strictly speaking, but then GB has a Victorian-era ring to it.

I suppose the GB/EU plates were going to change anyway, after slightly over half of the voters decided the country would be better off leaving the EU.

Edited by DavidBee
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Northern Ireland is not included in the name 'Great Britain' - that covers only England, Scotland and Wales. The inclusive term is The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or UK for short. 

We have used GB labels on vehicles since 1909 - before the partitioning of Ireland - by international agreement on vehicle identification. The agreement was updated in 1969 under the UN, long before EEC/EU membership.  It has always been a sore point for some in NI and the current political impasse has brought that to the fore. This move seems to be a political gesture intended to address it.

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8 hours ago, RobH said:

Northern Ireland is not included in the name 'Great Britain' - that covers only England, Scotland and Wales. The inclusive term is The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or UK for short. 

We have used GB labels on vehicles since 1909 - before the partitioning of Ireland - by international agreement on vehicle identification. The agreement was updated in 1969 under the UN, long before EEC/EU membership.  It has always been a sore point for some in NI and the current political impasse has brought that to the fore. This move seems to be a political gesture intended to address it.

Thanks Rob,

I live and learn!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I can't tell for other countries, but I'm 100% confident that no French police/customs(douanes)/gendarmerie officer will care about this.

Stick with your "GB" stickers, and keep driving your car on B roads as you stole it, as usually ^_^

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Does anyone know if this is Boris deciding or the International Authority ?  Surely if it is Boris alone, then it has no international relevance, only important when returning through British (usually English ) port checks ?

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Apparently it is the UK government that has informed the UN body that in future we will be using UK and not GB as the national identifier for vehicles. The reason is to make it inclusive of Northern Ireland.  That makes it an official change which must be recognised internationally.

There is still some confusion, as the official government advice hasn't caught up yet:

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

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It’s all to do with the “Geneva Convention” as was explained to me in Italian several years ago when I got stopped in Italy (and fined 70 Euro’s) for not having a GB plate.

I don’t speak Italian, but “Geneva Convention” was the only phrase I understood and I now believe that the UK plate issue is written into the book of rules along with telling you not to beat up prisoners of war and other such things.

Charlie

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3 hours ago, Chris59 said:

...I'm 100% confident that no French police/customs(douanes)/gendarmerie officer will care about this...

Chris,

This is a true story I told a few years ago:

"In the 1970’s I was stopped in France for not having a GB sticker on my TR. The policeman said “The fine is £100 (or whatever it was in francs in those days). However… I just happen to have a GB sticker in my bag I can sell you for £50. And I’ll even fit it for you.”

Looking in his bag he had a selection of “International stickers” that covered most countries of the world!

I paid the money and he went to the back of the car. After a bit of swearing and thumping he said “All done, on your way.”

About 50 miles down the road I stopped for some petrol and took the chance to look at the policeman’s handiwork. There was nothing there apart from a clean patch where the policeman had cleaned off the dirt and pretended to attach the GB sticker.

I then began to wonder if he was a real policeman or if he had just hired the uniform from a fancy dress shop."

Charlie.

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If the Sturgeon gets her way and manages to separate Scotland from the rest of us, then the rest of us will need a NUK (Not UK) or AUK (Almost UK) sticker.

But what would the Scots require, I wonder?  A sticker indicating Fled UK?

Ian Cornish

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