Cherished Number Plates News

The French Say NO! to Number Plate Change

08 November 2008

In the face of mounting anger in rural France, the Government backed down over a plan to replace the historic vehicle registration system, a key symbol of local identity, with an anonymous code intended to curry favour in Brussels.

Michèle Alliot-Marie, the Interior Minister, said that licence plates would continue to display the number of the department – the equivalent of Britain’s counties – albeit in smaller lettering.

Now, motorists from areas such as Dordognons will still have licence plates which end in 24 and those from Nice will still keep their historic plates ending in 06. These numbers act as identifying marks as to where a car is registered. The capital’s number plates will also continue to end in 75.

The importance and effect that this decision is having people was evident by looking at the flood of messages left on newspaper’s forums – almost five times the number generated by President Sarkozy’s anti-unemployment program on the site of Le Figaro, for instance. “At last a useful measure,” said one user. “Our MPs serve some purpose.”

Sébastien Moulinat, the deputy director of Jamais Sans Mon Département, a group set up to campaign and protest against the proposed changes are delighted with the result. Here is what he said on the matter: “It’s a sentimental question,” he said. “It’s just good to know where other cars are from and that we’ll still be able to feel proud when we see someone from our own department in another part of France.”

He went on to say that: “This is definitely a victory for the provinces because it’s not something they care about in Paris.”

The Paris registration number may become a rarity under Mrs Alliot-Marie’s scheme. Although the first seven digits of the new plates (comprising four letters separated by three numbers) will be distributed in chronological order, car owners will be free to choose the final two digits that indicate the department. Few are likely to opt for 75, which is generally a source of harassment when driving in the rest of France because of the unfortunate reputation which Parisians receive when on the road. “When I moved to Marseilles with a 75 number plate, my car was scratched all the way down the side within a week,” said a driver on a radio call-in show.

Some have criticised the French leaders for backing down on modernising the system, however it has also proved to be a victory for the voices of the ordinary people.