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Driving through Europe

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I usually fill up in Luxembourg ( currently€1.9 /l diesel) and the next fill up is either Austria or France depending where I am going ...never in Italy which is usually most the expensive...I do remeber 4 or 5 years ago and filling up there for €1.09 ...makes you think Puzzled
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Just back form Belgium where is was €1.68 off the motorway. Does vary wildly in Belgium though as €1.79 less than 1km away.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@DaveD, I was in Italy a couple of weeks back with a diesel hire car. Diesel was around €1.75/L far cheaper than here in Germany (currently over €2/L) or Austria.
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DaveD wrote:
I usually fill up in Luxembourg ( currently€1.9 /l diesel) and the next fill up is either Austria or France depending where I am going ...never in Italy which is usually most the expensive...I do remeber 4 or 5 years ago and filling up there for €1.09 ...makes you think Puzzled


So gone back up again, as it was a low 1.7s a couple of weeks ago at Schengen
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[quote="Hurdy"]Just back form Belgium where is was €1.68 off the motorway.

Where was that as i usually fill up at the last filling station going north before crossing the border into Belgium from Luxemburg, but usually have at least 100 miles remaining. So feel I should be going further but its usually more expensive than Luxemburg

On way out always come off dropping into shengen after the tunnel, where theres a choice of 3 garages (always the same price in all of them)
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Quote:

One in three cars I saw didn't have the correct sticker. And it's a reasonable leap they therefore didn't have the rest of the forms (V5 anyone?) and equipment.

I don't think that's a reasonable leap, @Nickski. I don't have the right sticker but I have all the important stuff, including a proper spare wheel and the means to change it. The "right sticker" is such a monumental piece of nonsense that any French policeman who stopped anyone for lack of it would come across like a character from "Allo Allo" and playing into the hands of the Little Brexiteers Gang.
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@pam w, weird, I find it stupefying that someone would go to the effort of complying with all the requirements but one and yet that one is the most obvious and visible requirement. For the sake of a couple of quid at Halfords etc. leave yourself open to being pulled over, that's frankly, ahem . . . not very smart.

I'd have more understanding of someone having the sticker but not bothering with the less obvious stuff. Better to be smart but lazy than the opposite.
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@Nickski, £3.99 in the AA shop at the tunnel, same price for large or small Toofy Grin .
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Just filled up in Belgium €1.70 euro 95 E10. Off the motorway.
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I was in Italy yesterday and diesel was much cheaper than France where I am now.
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@Nickski, it doesn't feel weird to me. If 33% of cars don't have the right sticker I don't feel particularly vulnerable. I have never heard of anybody being sanctioned for having the wrong, or no GB/UK sticker, after half a century of self and friends and family driving in Europe. Speeding - that's another matter......
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
A UK sticker costs as little as £1.30 - I really don't understand why you wouldn't bother getting one. It's just insurance. And as insurance goes it's so trivial as to be a no-brainer. Why pay £hundreds for your travel and ski insurance, £thousands for your ski holiday, and then not spend another £1.30 to conform to the legal regulations of the country you're visiting?
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[quote="jafa"]
Hurdy wrote:
Just back form Belgium where is was €1.68 off the motorway.

Where was that as i usually fill up at the last filling station going north before crossing the border into Belgium from Luxemburg, but usually have at least 100 miles remaining. So feel I should be going further but its usually more expensive than Luxemburg

On way out always come off dropping into shengen after the tunnel, where theres a choice of 3 garages (always the same price in all of them)


Luxoil between Tervuren and Vossem just off the ring road.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Not much evidence of "Crit air" stickers in French or Brit cars.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@pam w,

well I suppose you might as well blow both feet off, they're your feet.

In your extensive experience, and that of your friends, which is probably quite a small sample of total travellers to France, I'm sure even you would admit, no one has ever been pulled for the incorrect sticker . . .

And yet, incredibly, despite this great experience, you have everything else in place, ready to show the gendarmerie. Why?? That makes close to zero sense. Take a step back and read your own position. However, I sense the futility of pointing this out to you. I sense you will say whatever you can think of to justify your position and I'm wasting my time. Have a nice day.

@alti - dude, went to the 'wrong' supermarket in Reims. I may soon be able to verify if this is being pursued across borders rolling eyes
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I'm with Pam on this one.

How many Brits bought breathalyser kits.

You have to know what's important sand what's not.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:

you have everything else in place, ready to show the gendarmerie

Eh? Nothing to do with the gendarmerie. I have things like warning triangle, jump leads, spare wheel, jack, tyre pressure gauge, water, handcream, spare credit card, toilet roll, spare glasses and much else in my car if I drive up the road to Chichester. It's not about box ticking, more about getting myself or others out of a fix. If I drive to France I add passport, car documents, constat amiable and (in winter) chains, shovel and stuff. I don't think I've had a GB sticker on a car for ages - not an act of deliberate defiance, just not been a thing. I dare say I'm risking a fine - but compared to the risk of not having a spare wheel, chains or jump leads when you need them (risks which masses of motorists run all the time) it's no biggie. I might get round to sticking one on but it's not gonna keep me awake.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I've not got a sticker either not even thought about it to be truthful and this post is about as much as I'm going to think about it. Got UK on my number plate. Seems stupid to produce and buy a load of pointless plastic stickers collectively adding CO2 and plastic waste to the environment.
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Up to a point, I can understand deciding not to get a Crit'air certificate, even 'though that's only €3 or so, because it's not mandatory for driving through France; the probability of it being needed is very low; and there's the effort of scanning and submitting your V5C. The worst case scenario is that you'd have to detour around a zone that was actively being policed. But the [UK] sticker is a legal requirement across Europe, and costs almost nothing: so why break the law or risk being a victim of a bolshie traffic cop or Gendarme who's had a bad day? We expect foreign visitors to the UK to conform to our laws, so why should Brits consider themselves exempt from the same principle when abroad? No individual can be certain that British drivers have never fallen foul of its absence, and once you adopt the view 'everyone does it' or 'it's not important' then where do you draw the line in breaking the law?
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Why have a sticker in the first place, most reg plates now have feckin UK on them or still GB?

I kid thee not back in late October after I returned to France after having my van go through an MOT and a service and the garage replaced my GB plates with UK this old Frenchie stopped me and asked if I was from UKraine even though above the UK part of the plate is a Union Jack!

I'm now having to register my van in France and that really is a massive PITA.

And then when I drive back into the UK with my French plates will I have a FR sticker like you see so often here in the UK, I think not rolling eyes


Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Fri 2-09-22 10:02; edited 1 time in total
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Looked at a number of garages on the way into work this morning, diesel between €2.25 - €2.30, E10 €2.15 ish. Apparently fuel costs a good deal higher in southern Germany to northern Germany, no idea why. Anyone driving through would be advised to fill up elsewhere.

For those arguing about UK plates, very few Swiss vehicles display "CH" stickers most simply have the standard Swiss number plates identifying the canton it was issued by, I would guess that Swiss vehicles much more likely to be driven outside of Switzerland than UK ones. I would assume that Swiss cars dont get pulled for not displaying "CH" stickers (especially given how law abiding Swiss people are).
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
munich_irish wrote:
I would assume that Swiss cars dont get pulled for not displaying "CH" stickers (especially given how law abiding Swiss people are).

Well, you can't know, really. Although I'm more envisaging a situation where some bolshie traffic cop or gendarme has had a bad day and after your making a minor traffic infringement, wants an excuse to hassle you. And back to the original point, for the sake of £1.30 why break the law and leave yourself open to being hassled?

As regards petrol prices, I've just been filing my receipts and last week, I paid exactly the same for my Premium Eni SP98 Tech+ in the local Swiss village 24x7 self-service station as for the Shell V-Power 99RON E5 fill-up 'round the corner in the UK yesterday.


Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Sat 3-09-22 10:18; edited 7 times in total
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I think I have most of the list but I do know I am guilty of not having 4 high viz vests in the car.
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I try to make sure I have all on the list including at least 3 Hi Viz jackets ..but I gave up on the breathalisers the rules seem a bit ambiguous anyway I got the magnetic UK sticker ..they dont mark the paintwork ..
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I used to live in Belgium so we had everything as the Police enjoy their industrial scale traffic stops on Sunday mornings.

Gather about 50 police officers, cars and motorbikes on a quiet dual carriageway, close a lane, stop every car and send it to an officer, try to speak French then revert to English as the officer wants to practice, have a laugh about "Yes the wheel is on the wrong side", ID check, car check (Control Technique, registration, insurance, warning triangle etc) then breathalyser.

Could sometimes be officious but if you were polite it was fine...
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@Hurdy, control technique?
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
holidayloverxx wrote:
@Hurdy, control technique?


The Belgian MoT....
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I also had someone in Croatia think that I was Ukrainian from the UK sticker on the back Puzzled
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
munich_irish wrote:

I would assume that Swiss cars dont get pulled for not displaying "CH" stickers (especially given how law abiding Swiss people are).


Correct. Been driving Swiss-plated cars for the last 20+ years, probably 50% of the half a million or so kilometres of it in France, and have never displayed a CH sticker. Even when I've been pulled over by the Gendarmes, perhaps four or five times over that period, or stopped at the border (lots more than that, of course) they've never so much as commented on the lack of a sticker.

Of course it's obviously not necessary for them, given the Swiss flag on the plates and the completely different (from EU) layout and typeface, so some semblance of common sense [1] seems to apply. Similarly, the vast majority of French-plated cars I see here (and there are thousands crossing the border every day just a few hundred metres from here) don't display an F sticker.


[1] Edit: What am I saying? There's obviously some other more credible reason behind it.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
tangowaggon wrote:
I also had someone in Croatia think that I was Ukrainian from the UK sticker on the back Puzzled

Same happened to me in France Puzzled
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Happy days…France have increased the fuel discount to 30cents per litre until November when it drops back to 10 cents, Total also have an offer on currently if you can find one on top of that so I paid €1.389 per litre unleaded near my place in Normandy, diesel with them was about €1,63
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@andmelffion, Nice. Diesel was around 1.70 in Châtel the last time I filled up a week or two back. We're not doing much driving at the moment anyway, just shopping really, so it's not so important, but it's interesting that Swiss/French price differences which have been the norm for 20+years have effectively reversed for the time being. Last time I checked it was chf 2.30/2.40 a litre down the valley at Monthey.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
People are answering a question I haven't asked when they say French and Swiss cars don't seem to have an issue with missing country plates. My question was 'Why risk an argument with a bolshie traffic cop or policeman for the sake of a £1.30 UK sticker (£3.99 for a reusable magnetic version)? Especially given that our new Prime Minister is keen to slag the French premier off at the slightest opportunity.'


Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Wed 7-09-22 10:02; edited 1 time in total
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@LaForet, Well yes, you're absolutely right, but you know, people are lazy, the risk is small...
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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With all the websites these days having scroll down long lists of countries before getting to the United Kingdom or Great Britain I have been thinking perhaps the country should revert to the old name - Albion. This would have a number of benefits espcially appearing at the top of lists of world counties. It will also match current thinking by some in UK to revert to ancient ways. I did see a governement proposal to revert to imperial units of weights and measures which haven't been used in the UK for 50 years.
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@johnE, please don't give these fckrs ideas Toofy Grin Toofy Grin
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Just back, filled up in Belgium E10 at €1.68 per litre, went on a little detour before getting to the tunnel because of traffic and the Auchan of the A16 was selling at €1.59, Germany is now over €2.00.

Felt happier with my new small UK sticker at £3.99 from the AA shop Toofy Grin

Has anyone ever seen people being stopped at the French custom point on the A16 heading to Calais, just after the border with Belgium?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@radar, France increased the subsidy on fuel to €0.30 per litre on 1 September.
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Just got back from Austria yesterday morning, overnight ferry Rotterdam/ Hull.

Dutch motorways 95 €2.35/ L, German Autobahns slightly cheaper €2.20, Austria in town Shell €1.80.

Never displayed a UK sticker (never displayed a GB one either in the past, only EU blue with yellow stars), took V5 thankfully not needed, nor RAC breakdown. P&O Hull/ Rotterdam both ways, really pleased with the crossings, attitude/ quality of the staff was excellent despite recent bad P&O bad press. Border Control a PITA incoming into Hull, only 2 gates open for 770 cars and 250 motorbikes, busiest day of the year apparently but that's Britain for you, taking back control of our borders. Dutch border control on outbound brilliant. No issues anywhere on the roads in mainland Europe, absolute pleasure driving there, and so much better drivers than in UK.....keep right unless overtaking, and no middle lane numpties. Clean loo stops everywhere and at €0.70 great value, knocked off the next brew.

Don't forget £2 a day upfront payment for using mobile data (if with EE) - been with them 20 years and still had to pay becasue we both renewed (upgraded ?) last August, another Brexit bonus.
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The nasty cynic in me says that a French civil servant spoke with a British civil servant and said that since French registrations had gone from "GA" to "GB" it was causing confusion - would Great Britain mind helping out by changing from GB to UK?................
Diesel round Lake Garda is about €1.83, in Trento and Brescia it's a bit less. Petrol is cheaper than diesel.
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