There’s been rumblings in the old car scene about EU proposals to ditch the UK’s current number plate format in favour of a universal indexing system which would spoil the look of our older Dubs and do away with the whole concept of personalisation…

The rumours were started by several national newspapers who reported that there were plans to introduce a ‘Euro’ plate across the European Union, standardising the style, shape, colour and design of number plates in the EU with the possibility of switching to a single colour. One paper suggested that personalised plates would be banned.

However, we’re pleased to report that the European Commission in the UK said that the reports were untrue and that any measures would be designed to reduce the time and costs involved registering a vehicle in a different EU country.

Although there is an amendment to the legislation which reads that the European Commission “should consider” putting ID tags on number plates and making number plates “common colours” these were merely suggestions and not firm proposals. Its been reported by an official to the BBC that, “Even if other EU countries pursued this, which we don’t think they are, the UK wouldn’t support it. We don’t think the idea is going anywhere.” This view was supported by an official press release issued by the Commission which read: “The Commission has not proposed the introduction of standard plates and does not plan to do so.”

While Euro-style plates might actually be welcomed by water-cooled Dub fans, which is why some already opt to fit German-style pressed steel plates to their cars, it’s unlikely owners of air-cooled VWs would be quite so cool about the prospect of being forced to ditch their car’s original registration.

What do you think?

Ian

The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage