The quiet demise of the GB sticker | Axon's Automotive Anorak

Once home, I popped into my local Halfords for a new sticker, only to be told by the shop assistant that GB plates have made way for UK plates. Quite why the British Government chose the change after more than 150 years or so has never really been fully explained. I’ve heard rumours, that the switch from GB (Great Britain) to UK (the United Kingdom) was a sop to Northern Ireland, where some residents there felt slightly excluded under the GB heading.

The use now though of UK still seems to confuse many, especially on the Continent, where they have only ever known the use of GB for British registered vehicles. As a very unscientific straw pole, I recently asked a few overseas-based car friends if they were aware of the switch. Not a single one of them was, one getting quite upset at the prospect of having to change the chrome GB plates on his old Rover P6 2000, despite it being an original Swedish export model. 

In many cases, it seems that over on the other side of the Channel, UK stands for Ukraine, which seems perfectly logical for obvious reasons. Just in case you didn’t know, UA Is actually Ukraine’s international country identity code.

Changing a country’s international transit symbol isn’t unique to Britain. The most recent examples, some years ago, are Finland, which switched from SF (Suomi Finland) to FIN and Austria moved from OST (for Osterriech) to A, the more widely-known and reasoned international abbreviation for the European Alpine country.

By way of record, it seems that after 28 September 2021, poorly-communicated new British Governmental regulations specified that any driver in a British registered vehicle (irrespective of age) will now need to display a UK international plate on their vehicle. The provision for such international identifying marks is set out in the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, and the British government made the following ill-communicated declaration to the United Nations.

There is no provision for any exemptions in the Treaty and an exemption for older classic and historic vehicles is considered to be impractical or unsustainable in an international setting. That said, the provision would not prevent a GB badge being displayed in the UK at classic car shows, and so on, where period authenticity can be considered to be important. On the basis that the GB Government advice for going overseas allows a GB symbol to remain on a number plate, for example, as long as a UK sticker is also now displayed, it is arguable that the displaying of the traditional GB badge will pass muster, but officially only as long as the UK badge is displayed as well. It’s all very confusing, and has never really been fully and clearly explained!

However, be warned that it is possible that an overzealous overseas official would be entitled to ask for a GB badge to be removed or covered up. The chances are thankfully very unlikely. After all, if the majority of British weren’t aware of this change, the what chance our Continental cousins!

In the late 1990s the Rover Group included shiny chrome GB badges on the boot lids of numerous special edition Minis, sold both in the UK and various export markets, to help emphasis the Britishness of this landmark model, so I can’t imagine (and hope) that the lucky owners of limited edition Paul Smith Minis will be prising these letters off their cars, as they are part of the original, standard specification. My own 1951 Bristol has a charming period chrome GB badge as well, which will be remaining in place, even if I have to plonk a cheap new UK sticker in the rear window for overseas trips. Rule Britannia…