Flying the flag
I know its a flag issue (which is bound to get some people to react...) but I really thought this was an interesting article.
Apparently you can be fined £60 for having a Saltire, St George cross, Welsh dragon... or even a Union Flag on your number plate.
So why can you purchase these registration plates?
And, perhaps more pertinently, and in true Daily Express style, what can we blame the EU for next?
3 comments:
So far as I understand it, you can be theoretically taken to court and fined anything up to £1,000 for such a violation, although it would take a very strange day in the judicial system to let something quite so ridiculous go so far.
Quite correct though, it is illegal, although the government announced in 2001 that they would change the regulations to allow for the Union flag and other recognised flags of the UK to be used. Seven years passing between then and now, for a simple set of regulations, shows that it's obviously not a priority however.
Strictly speaking you can't purchase them to use on the public roads, but they're sold as 'show plates' for use at car shows etc.
Of course, illegal plates are commonplace on the roads, and the suppliers know fine that many of them will be used illegally, but in effect they're deemed not to know so they just sell them anyway.
BTW, where's the article?
There may be a way...
The French Minister of the Interior has just announced a U-turn after months of polemic on the recently proposed system of immaticulation for cars that will come to be on the 1Jan.
The Minister (Michele Alliot-Marie) has added that the proprietor of the vehicle will be free to choose the number of the departement "that they feel they have most attachment to". In France we already have the department number on the licence plate and a strong movement considered that to remove this would result in a be a loss of identity. The current system obliges the (new) owner to re-register the car to their local authorities, and, if the department has changed then so will the number on the licence plate. The new plate resulting from the new legislation will consist of the French blue bar on the LHS of the plate, the licence number and a further blue bar on the RHS, corresponding to the area "to which they feel most strongly". Presumably this is all within EU rules...
Unfortunately for Scots, there is not quite the status quo to maintain; however, it does indicate that there is some room for discussion if only one can demonstrate that they 'feel strongly' enough to add a second blue bar. Should not be tough!
See. e.g. http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2008/10/28/le-numero-de-departement-maintenu-sur-les-plaques-d-immatriculation_1112196_3224.html
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