IMPORTANT - Changes To Caravan Registration Laws In Europe
Comments
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I know. I've been told it’s because the application process is handled by a different agency and hasn't yet caught up. Right hand and left hand syndrome🤷🏻♂️. Whichever turns out to be correct, who’d have thought the Govt/Civil Service wouldn’t have got their act together?🤪
I'm not arguing either way here but just putting info on the table.
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But @Lutz that contradicts your earlier post (Aug 14th) about not needing it? Is it needed or not?
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My first post was written before I came across the guideline issued to the German police, and to which I referred to in a link in my next reply later that day. This guideline makes reference to the reasoning behind the requirement for non-commercial trailers over 750kg towed by vehicles registered outside the EU to also be registered. It seems that the UK government has since understood the position and is in the process of amending the information that they have published. Some parts have already been redefined, but the job has not been completed yet. This has led to some confusion among UK caravan owners wishing to tour the Continent.0
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@Lutz You posted above:
…the guideline issued to the German police, and to which I referred to in a link in my next reply later that day.
Sorry that is not correct either at all in my view, your second later that day post talked of a blog and no mention of guidelines at all? In fact you say you cannot find any other sources and only one blog from 2022. I'll repost in case you may have forgotten the exact words you used?
From your second reply:
It is true that there is a German police blog dated 22 March 2022, which claims that the UK does not benefit from the opportunity to refrain from having non-commercial trailers under 3500kg registered because this exception from normal requirements for trailer registration only applies to EEA states, of which the UK is no longer a member. Obviously some German police officers are applying this practice, although I cannot find any other source which supports the statements made in the blog.
Also you link that you talk about in your reply just now you called it a blog, reposted below:
For anyone fluent in German, I am providing a link to the blog to which I refer:
In fact the first line of your link reads 'Der blog der polize' which translates into the Police blog (doesn't it?) not guidelines of the police?
I'm sorry Lutz but I can only reply to your posts using what you write and the words used. If you meant guidelines, as you now claim, then perhaps you should not have used the word blogs? And then why is blog in the first line of that link
Also the use of some german officers and which claims do not benefit … to me anyway does not appear to be guidelines but opinions from a blog. The definition of a blog (the words you used) in English means:
'a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.'
Other definitions are available but they all follow this one. Guidelines are usually more formal, certainly not followed by just some, they are usually recommended rules or instructions that offer advice and suggest a course of action for how something should be done. They are usually not open to individual interpretation as you posted - some German police officers are applying this practice.
Like the CT guidelines which we all follow.
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The blog that I referred to and to which I provided a link is nevertheless a basis to which the police work. Regardless of the semantics of each of my posts, the current amended details that the UK government issued on the 26 August (https://www.gov.uk/register-trailer-to-take-abroad) are in line with the contents of that blog, so things should be quite clear once all other references are brought up to date.0
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A basis for how the police work on this? I just really cannot believe that for a moment of your police force.
An obscure (in almost your own words) and the only blog from 2022 becoming the basis for how a police force works regarding this? Really? But then isn't you saying only some police officers apply contradict that??
Sorry no. I think you're backtracking on your error in using guidelines for blogs and making them interchangeable. You may call it semantics but it was just a plain, simple, and very bad error and an incorrect use of words at worst, and at best your posts were misleading. That cannot be denied, semantics is the study of meaning in words, blogs and guidelines have two different meanings. A significant difference between the two. There is no semantics there, cannot be. You just got it wrong in my view - sorry.
But I even wonder how you can claim to know it is the basis for how your police work? Anyway a rhetorical question.
But interestingly, you once posted that the Gov.uk website is well known for its errors, yet now you now use this site to prop up your argument. But it's impossible to tell as your link is page not found!
(I'm making a bet with myself…)
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If the statements made in the German police blog were incorrect, how can you explain why the UK government information on towing abroad is currently being amended to be in line with both that blog and, perhaps more importantly, with Articles 35 and 36 of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic 1968?
I appreciate that the blog is not an official directive, but it does give the police background information to help them handle matters, and it does provide supporting references to relevant legislation.2 -
@Lutz If you read my posts again carefully I have made no arguments either for or against why the situation is as it is, nor any legal standpoints or quoted any laws and articles and I'm not starting now.
My posts to you have been about your inconsistencies in your posts.
First it is an obscure blog that you yourself state is from 2022 and you are really quite cursory about where some officers are applying this blog.
Then you claim it is not a blog but they are guidelines, which according to you are the basis to which the police work, (I asked you how you knew this) but even now you've changed back to blog that to that the blog is not an official directive.
First blog, then guidelines (the basis to which the police work, and now the blog is not an official directive.
Not official directive - it amazes me that your police force can work with unofficial directives with some applying it.
There are so many changes in your posts it is difficult to know which is correct and now you are using a a legal definitions to prove your point?
At least I won my bet, now a double header bet.
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All very confusing, there seem to be recent and ongoing changes to information on the government websites.
There's a new video on YT -
Do you need to register your caravan for Europe in 2025?
I've don't know if the views expressed in the video are correct or not but it is interesting.
Rowena - in view of the changes does the club's position remain as stated in your post of 14/8 ?
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on another forum someone has a letter from CAMC saying they are investigating and the caravan industry want consulted. I also note that Out and About Live ( associated with Warner Leisure) has produced info essentially saying you need to register and get a new number plate for your caravan or trailer. I haven’t looked the CAMC home page today but it would be useful if they made a statement for all to see. As usual the club is useless at comms.
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Fact is that nothing has actually changed. The need to have the caravan registered was one of the results of Brexit. For reasons unknown, this information was never conveyed to the public and it only surfaced after a couple of people were fined in Germany for not having their caravan registered.0
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the best account I’ve seen is from Dan Trudgian on YouTube. Really clear and up to date which is more than can be said for the government website on the matter. If you have a non-commercial trailer over Kg 750 for towing in most of continental Europe, it will have to be registered at the DVLA and bear two number plates. One to match your car, the second to comply with regulations in Europe, except for Spain and one or two others. The second plate must be black symbols on a white background. The UKGOV web site has not yet been updated following the legislation because the government subcontracts that sort of work and it has not yet been done. Watch the video.
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On here?
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Just registered my caravan as possibly going over the water later this month. Gov website is still not consistent and you have to in effect do a voluntary registration. Anyway received an email with the authorisation certificate straight away (to get a plate made) with the Registration Certificate due in 5 working days.
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Oh, there🤷🏻♂️. The mis-named forum.
I thought I'd missed something here.
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After a bit of digging about on other forums it looks like you end up having to put a 210 x 130 motorbike size plate on the back of your caravan. It is black letters on a white background.It is in addition to your existing plate.(as far away as reasonably possible?) It does not need illuminating.You can fit one on each side of the van if you wish instead. Why on Gods earth this has not been made clear and unambiguous is totally beyond me.
Why cannot the club let us know what is happening. Or am I just being grumpy.
Colin
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Where did you get the information from that it does not need illuminating? Neither the DVLA brochure "Trailer registration numbers and number plates" INF291 nor "The Trailer Registration Regulations 2018" mention anything about trailer plate lighting requirements.0
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I could not readily find anything that directly stated the plate needed illuminating. That is I did not end to end read the regulations, as these are unlikely to have been updated yet to cover a secondary/supplementary plate that might be required by another country. Surely in the UK the plate would be classified as a secondary identification and not the primary, as this would be the cars plate.
The situation we find ourselves in is a total farce. I do not object to a secondary plate, intact I welcome registration of trailers as it offers a route to testing for road worthiness.
What gets my goat is how nobody actually knows exactly what has to be done, hence the confusion and conflicting views in this thread
I think the best thing would be to lock it until we are all in receipt of what bylaw and not option is expected of us.
Colin
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Following my reply earlier this morning I have learnt that as from 7 July 2026, EU Directive 2024/883 requires both rear number plates to be illuminated. However, that regulation only applies to trailers over 3500kg. It seems that there are no similar provisions for trailers under 3500kg because EU regulations only call for one plate to be displayed on such trailers, that of the trailer's registration, not that of the towing vehicle.1
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Thanks. That is the clearest explanation I have read.
Colin
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"Surely in the UK the plate would be classified as a secondary identification and not the primary, as this would be the cars plate. "
Once abroad it's the other way round. There the car's plate is secondary and the trailer plate primary because only the trailer plate is the one required. The car's plate then becomes irrelevant.0 -
It seems to me that the EU is getting rather silly over things like this, perhaps its about time that our police started fining EU citizens for not having the towcar registration on their caravans? But of course we won't do anything, and that's exactly why I admire the French they'd have been up in arms.
Brexit has a lot to answer for!
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It’s got nothing to do with the EU. It’s an international agreement of the United Nations. The EU only has a special arrangement whereby non-commercial trailers under 3500kg don’t need to be registered separately, but that only applies to EU member states, of which the UK is no longer a part.
Trailer plates for caravans wouldn’t be necessary if the UK were still in the EU.
UK police would have no reason to fine visiting caravanners that don’t display the car’s registration because the international agreement doesn’t require it. It’s purely a UK thing.2
