Marker boards in Spain

May 10, 2020
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Hallo all,
I am planning a Bilbao to St Malo trip next year and would like to ask about anybody’s experiences with rear end marker boards while driving in Spain. We will disembark the ferry at Bilbao and immediately drive/ tow to Boudreaux. It’s 80 mile to the French border and once across the marker boards are no longer required. So question is …. Is it legal in France to leave the boards on or do I have to remove them and is it worth the risk of not mounting them at all?
Best regards
R
 

JTQ

May 7, 2005
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I suspect at best here you will only get "opinions", nothing definitive in respect to how the French might react.

I for sure would comply with the Spanish requirement, not least in that our Spanish speaking skills are way too poor to persuadably argue with them that their rules are optional for me.
Easiest for hassle avoidance IMO seems to be go with the deployable removal option, then you can't be wrong.
 
Jun 16, 2020
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Am I right in saying that some people have stickers instead of boards. If so, they do not remove, so I would think there woukd be no problem.

John
 
May 10, 2020
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Thanks for the reply JTQ and I agree with what you say. In fact I wouldn’t have asked the question if there was some off the shelf easy attach/ detach method available that didn’t involve double sided tape.
cheers
R
 
Mar 14, 2005
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I’m in Spain at the moment and I’ve had boards permanently attached to my caravan for the past 3 years, but I’ve seen others without, even Spanish registered outfits. No-one in France or anywhere else has ever complained.
I’ve even seen one or two with bicycles on the back, but without the prescribed red and white striped boards. Nobody seems to be taking things too seriously.
 
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Jul 25, 2021
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I would leave them on, not seen any here apart from commercial vehicles, they can only assist other people to see you ;) but If they cant see a large white box going down the road, all is lost. The red/white boards on bike racks etc seem mainly to be on the back of Dutch registered vehicles.
 

Ern

May 23, 2021
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When the Spanish Police had the bright idea of stopping towing motorists and preventing them from continuing their journey until the boards were fixed. They justified it as an EU law which they had chosen to enforce. We were spending every winter in Spain around that time (2013 ish I think), and were made well aware by our German friends that this was little more than a legal Scam. One of the favourite places for being stopped was around Oliva and Denia, where there was coincidentally a trading estate unit selling and fitting trailer spares, including the aluminium boards marked as EU compliant. The Police usually directed and even escorted one motorist who we knew, to it. The fact that they were driving a Concord Motorhome towing a trailer + new Smart car may have influenced it.
To answer the OP, I would not bother fitting them for that short trip across the border, but that's just my opinion. Forum Rules prevent me from recommending that you break the law.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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When the Spanish Police had the bright idea of stopping towing motorists and preventing them from continuing their journey until the boards were fixed. They justified it as an EU law which they had chosen to enforce.
It's not an EU law. It is purely a Spanish one. Elsewhere such boards are only required on much larger commercial vehicles. Even the size of the boards that the Spanish specify is slightly different to the European standard. However, in a gesture of magnanimous generosity they will accept boards made according to the European standard.
 
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May 10, 2020
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Thanks for all your replies and opinions, much appreciated. I know the best advice would be to fit the things and for the sake of £20 travel without the worry of getting stopped. But, I really don’t want to stick more bits on the back of our ‘van . Silly I know but just my preference and I probably won’t do that trip again. I have watched a couple of Utube vids on the ferry unloading at Bilbao and there are quite a few boardless caravans coming off. I shall ponder on what to do, plenty of time yet.
My best regards all
R
 
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Jul 18, 2017
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Thanks for all your replies and opinions, much appreciated. I know the best advice would be to fit the things and for the sake of £20 travel without the worry of getting stopped. But, I really don’t want to stick more bits on the back of our ‘van . Silly I know but just my preference and I probably won’t do that trip again. I have watched a couple of Utube vids on the ferry unloading at Bilbao and there are quite a few boardless caravans coming off. I shall ponder on what to do, plenty of time yet.
My best regards all
R
Put them on and leave them on as they add to safety anyway.
 
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Ern

May 23, 2021
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Thanks for all your replies and opinions, much appreciated. I know the best advice would be to fit the things and for the sake of £20 travel without the worry of getting stopped. But, I really don’t want to stick more bits on the back of our ‘van . Silly I know but just my preference and I probably won’t do that trip again. I have watched a couple of Utube vids on the ferry unloading at Bilbao and there are quite a few boardless caravans coming off. I shall ponder on what to do, plenty of time yet.
My best regards all
R
Are you sure you actually need them? Is your outfit 12M or more? A twin axle on caravan may be irrelevant, but PC El Plodd is likely to consider that visual clue to be an indication that it is long, and a single axle caravan short.
 
Jul 15, 2008
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.....the various countrie's laws on this subject are laid out in an advice bulletin issued by the CMHC club.
Google it for a downloadable Pdf. document.
Basically the marker boards are compulsory in Spain if outfit is over 12 meters in length.
They are tolerated in Europe and illegal on a caravan in the UK.
I have a single large board fixed with well nuts and bolts that I can fix or remove in 5 minutes.
 
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.....the various countrie's laws on this subject are laid out in an advice bulletin issued by the CMHC club.
Google it for a downloadable Pdf. document.
Basically the marker boards are compulsory in Spain if outfit is over 12 meters in length.
They are tolerated in Europe and illegal on a caravan in the UK.
I have a single large board fixed with well nuts and bolts that I can fix or remove in 5 minutes.
Not sure about them being illegal in the UK as they are a safety device. We have had them on our caravan since 2018 and since 2019 have spent a lot of time touring around the UK and have never been stopped. The marker boards are fixed on with those Commando stickers.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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This is an old chestnut. There are specific categories in UK where marker boards are required. But does having them mounted on a vehicle outwith those categories make them illegal. I suspect not or else tourists arriving back from Europe could be caught out. But the word “ must” in the statement below could be important.


In order to display marker boards in the UK, your vehicle must fall into one of the following categories (confirmed by the Transport Technology and Standards Department):
f A motor vehicle with a gross weight exceeding 7500kg
f A motor vehicle first used before 1 August 1982 and having an unladen weight
exceeding 3000kg
f A trailer with a gross weight exceeding 3500kg
f A trailer manufactured before 1 August 1982 having an unladen weight exceeding 1000kg
 
Jul 18, 2017
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This is an old chestnut. There are specific categories in UK where marker boards are required. But does having them mounted on a vehicle outwith those categories make them illegal. I suspect not or else tourists arriving back from Europe could be caught out. But the word “ must” in the statement below could be important.


In order to display marker boards in the UK, your vehicle must fall into one of the following categories (confirmed by the Transport Technology and Standards Department):
f A motor vehicle with a gross weight exceeding 7500kg
f A motor vehicle first used before 1 August 1982 and having an unladen weight
exceeding 3000kg
f A trailer with a gross weight exceeding 3500kg
f A trailer manufactured before 1 August 1982 having an unladen weight exceeding 1000kg


I think there are now exemptions to the above therefore no longer illegal? Cannot find anything specific in the Roads and Construction legislation stating it is illegal to have them on a trailer like a caravan althouhg there may be a clause?
 
Jul 15, 2008
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.....it is illegal to display the boards on a caravan outfit in the UK.

Having said that it is a bit like the laws governing vehicle registration plates. Rules on letter sizing and spacing etc.
Breaking these rules is illegal and offending vehicles are supposed to fail their MOT test yet you often see such vehicles driven around without a care.
 
Jul 18, 2017
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.....it is illegal to display the boards on a caravan outfit in the UK.

Having said that it is a bit like the laws governing vehicle registration plates. Rules on letter sizing and spacing etc.
Breaking these rules is illegal and offending vehicles are supposed to fail their MOT test yet you often see such vehicles driven around without a care.
Caravans do not have to go for a MOT so not an issue. :LOL:
 

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