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An obvious one really but I saw a car for sale earlier that was £500 (1994 Mazda 323, 119k miles) with diplomatic number plates and I thought the plate might look rather cool on the Boxster. Go ahead and judge me. Anyway, the question is, does the D plate stay with the car when it is sold? I'm thinking not.
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no, allocated to a particular country......
e.g. 222D123 would be Nigeria. The 222 designates the country, D = Diplomat, the next 3 numbers are individual to the vehicle.
There are also consular plates e.g. 222X123. Lesser status than Diplomats, but equally non transferable
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It's ironic that a number plate has far far more status that the car, there are a few of those round here, notable a Toyota Ago with a 3 digit plate on prob worth £10k+
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That's the best joke of it; I just love having a £30-grand number plate on a £300 ratty old pick-up.
Maybe you could get a job [with D plates] as the "Cultural Attache;" there's a few countries that could do with some - tried Australia House.....
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My parents used to have a neighbour who was ordinary administrative staff at an embassy; he had "X" plates. He was not resident in the embassy's country, but permanently resident in the UK.
Does this mean anyone working for an embassy but without diplomatic status can have the "X" plates?
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PLEASE do not call them 'license plates'
We are not American!
They are number plates or registration plates in this country.
I will now get off of my soapbox
Thank you : o )
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I will just borrow stuartl's soapbox before he takes it away to add that in English anyway 'license' is a verb form, the noun being 'licence'. The perverse gringos have got it the wrong way round.
OK, you can have it now stuartl.
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Thanks Lud, I'll waive the hire charge as you were so informative! : o )
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I work at a diplomatic site.
Foreign nationals who work here are entitled to two sets of X plates which must be transferred to another vehicle or returned to HMG if they are no longer required. No VED is paid.
UK nationals do not enjoy those privileges but do escape paying income tax and (optionally) NI like non-UKers.
If you buy a car currently displaying diplomatic plates you will need to re-register it.
Kevin...
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It's not only diplomatic and consular staff who get diplomatic plates: foreign staff working for international organisations (UN, NATO, WHO, assorted European institutions etc.) are also entitled to X plates.
Wikipedia has a list of diplomatic plate codes for the curious:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_codes_on_Bri...s
Edited by Typ 8L on 05/06/2008 at 17:02
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I read some time ago that the US Embassy, amongst others, were contesting the "Congestion Charge", arguing that their staff were not obliged to pay what they argue was a *tax*, contrary to the Vienna Convention.
Has this been resolved yet?
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