Should all numberplates bear a Eurotag?

[Justme]

Originally Posted by Bikkel

Thing is, the EU is set to ignore the existence of borders.

My objection is that my road tax goes to my national government and there's no reason I should abide to an EU law on this. I would, provided the money would go to 'Brussels', who are much less wasters than Zimf makes them out to be. At leat representatives in Brussels received vote unlike the peer sponsors of the House of Turds, aka HoL.

However, this has nothing to do with borders. What it is about is a visual reference of where a car comes from in case of an accident, issue or law enforcement. The only difference, is now, when a car leaves the UK, people have to place a "UK" sticker on it. With the EU tag standard, the UK label is on the licence plate automatically where people will be looking if they need to check the license plate.

All it does is make things a little easier.

[Zim Flyer]

Originally Posted by Justme

However, this has nothing to do with borders. What it is about is a visual reference of where a car comes from in case of an accident, issue or law enforcement. The only difference, is now, when a car leaves the UK, people have to place a "UK" sticker on it. With the EU tag standard, the UK label is on the licence plate automatically where people will be looking if they need to check the license plate.

All it does is make things a little easier.

Why not use a national flag or letters in that case (which I accept is good logic to spotting a bad overseas driver).

From a brand marketing point of view, this smacks too much of having the EU flat everywhere to create the icon that with out the EU our lives would collapse.

I realise I might come over here as mad and arguing over detail, but for me the devil is always in the detail.

[Zim Flyer]

Originally Posted by Karate_Kev

we?

there is no we, zim. Britain does not care about you, me or anyone else in here. forget your idea that you are part of something called britain.

the only thing that is important is that as individuals we can determine our own lives, and it is easier to do that now you dont have to have work permits, visas and all the rest of that bullshit, at least within the EU.

if you want to sit at home and wave your union jack, fine. but remember nobody cares and nobody is going to reward you for it.

Actually Britain does exist and we live in such a thing called society where "we" are all in it together.

Individualism is good, but ruthless individualism went with Thatcher. I now see it is your views that are the outdated ones.

[Karate_Kev]

i didnt say britain doesnt exist, neither did i promote individualism or thatcherism.

maybe you should read what i said.
I said as individuals, it is important that we can determine our own lives.

do you not agree with that? less visas, work permits and nationality issues make it easier to determine our own lives. The EU has done that.

[Gareth]

I don't like the fact they're so generic looking. We should have a US style system where each state can customize it's own license plate with it's own name on it, rather than just an EU flag with an initial on it.

Ultimately, I'm not that arsed about it. I'd sooner we had England/Scotland/Wales flags though if it were to ever become mandatory or a UK one, which is more likely seen as Great Britain has a united transport department.

[Justme]

Originally Posted by Zim Flyer

Why not use a national flag or letters in that case (which I accept is good logic to spotting a bad overseas driver).

From a brand marketing point of view, this smacks too much of having the EU flat everywhere to create the icon that with out the EU our lives would collapse.

I realise I might come over here as mad and arguing over detail, but for me the devil is always in the detail.

At least you agree it is only in the tiny detail. But that is the point, should the detail matter so much? It says UK, you live in the UK.

Why get so worked up if it has the EU flag on it, we are afterall in the EU and thus logical to include the symbol.

[Zim Flyer]

Originally Posted by Karate_Kev

i didnt say britain doesnt exist, neither did i promote individualism or thatcherism.

maybe you should read what i said.
I said as individuals, it is important that we can determine our own lives.

do you not agree with that? less visas, work permits and nationality issues make it easier to determine our own lives. The EU has done that.

I agree and think that is a great achievement of the EU, the freedom of movement and goods is a great thing, definately. I ship alot of books around Europe and it's so much easier than other non EU members.

I would like to see these principles of free movement of peoples and goods extended to other countries around the world as well.


My problem however, is the next stage of the European project that seeks to make it a country rather than a trade block.

[Karate_Kev]

is the next stage of the European project that seeks to make it a country rather than a trade block.

even if that was true, so what?

[Zim Flyer]

Originally Posted by Karate_Kev

even if that was true, so what?

Because one solution fits all laws will never work over such a vast area.

I don't want to live in the United States of Europe. It is created by some out of fear. Fear of the Indians, the Chinese or the Yanks. That is the wrong way to look at the world.

I want to live in the UK and expand the principles of free trade and open markets that currently exist within the EU to certain countries in Africa and Asia.

[Justme]

Originally Posted by Zim Flyer

Because one solution fits all laws will never work over such a vast area.

I don't want to live in the United States of Europe. It is created by some out of fear. Fear of the Indians, the Chinese or the Yanks. That is the wrong way to look at the world.

I want to live in the UK and expand the principles of free trade and open markets that currently exist within the EU to certain countries in Africa and Asia.

The problem with free trade, is that it also requires freedom of travel and work. They work hand in hand. When we start having so much freedom of trade and travel between states, we need also to have a central governing body. It simply wouldn't work otherwise. You see, for free trade you need standards, especially across borders where so many different languages and customs, cultures exist. And this is what the EU does.

Of cause, you can sell books outside of the EU region, but it is more difficult, as there are so many conflicting standards, taxes, red tape etc. Of cause, books are pretty easy compared to other products and services but when you take the whole market place things get very complicated.

Now of cause, this whole thread shouldn't have any discussion on the principles of the EU, but whether we should have these little tags on the license plates. But again, it's about standardizations. It just makes these things easier, and when things are easier, it's cheaper to maintain.

[Isaac Newell]

No reason European number plates cannot be like this.

This is what annoys me about Europe, everything must look the same.

[Justme]

Originally Posted by Isaac Newell

No reason European number plates cannot be like this.

This is what annoys me about Europe, everything must look the same.

No, they don't have to be the same. UK license plates are still in the majority Yellow, which differs from other countries, and each country plates do look different.

The only thing about the EU here, is a tiny tag at the edge of a unique license plate that designates the country. This is the same that all US plates must have the name of the State written on them, so you can tell if it's a California license plate, or Texas one, or in the case of Europe, it can easily be seen if it is German, Italian or British.

The fact most European plates look boring, is the fault of each country which has far stricter controls on the plates than most countries outside of Europe, i.e. you have no real "personalized" plates in Europe (where you can use any combination of letters and numbers) unlike pretty much everywhere else. This has nothing to do with the EU, but the individual national governments.

[Justme]

German License plate:


French License plate:


Spanish License plate:


Italian License plate


Swedish License Plate:


UK License Plate (with tag)


UK License plate (without tag) Not a great deal of difference, especially when considering the fuss in this thread!


All plates are slightly different and NOT all the same.

Yes, the plates are all pretty boring compared to the US ones, but that is NOT the EU, European plates have always been boring compared to US ones, even before the EU, this is each nations policies in place.

[Isaac Newell]

good point.

[samsonyuen]

Maybe just a white GB sticker could be an option?

[Accura4Matalan]

Originally Posted by samsonyuen

Maybe just a white GB sticker could be an option?

Apparently they can reduce the value of your car.

[Vertighost]

I saw a Polish truck with one of these today except that it used the Polish flag instead of the EU one.

[Bikkel]

Any vehicle in sight with its sole national symbol other than Britain's should be set ablaze.

[Justme]

Originally Posted by Bikkel

Any vehicle in sight with its sole national symbol other than Britain's should be set ablaze.

Just park it somewhere in France for a couple of days

[Andrew]

BBC news article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/1731517.stm

I think any of these options as well as the option of none should be allowed. The EU flag shouldn't be compulsory but should be an option in addition to country flags.