A very common sight on Irish roads is to disappear at the end of September, as the GB sticker will no longer be valid as a vehicle signifier after September 28th.

The move, which will come as a surprise to many UK motorists, is not a post Brexit consequence, but comes after a request by the UK government to the United Nations for the vehicle signifier to be changed to the UK.

The speculation is that the move has been made to pacify some Northern Ireland residents who have previously objected to having to display the GB mark, despite not being part of Great Britain.  However, the GB mark has been in use for 111 years and the change is likely to upset many traditionalists in Britain.

To legally drive in the EU, UK drivers will now need to display a UK sticker or magnet or a UK mark on their number plate. This will come as something of an embarrassment to the UK government which launched a new GB number plate in January with a great fanfare. This was a replacement of the ‘Euro’ plate will now need to be replaced again for overseas UK travellers.

The change has not been widely publicised by the UK administration and was only brought to light when spotted as a footnote in UN regulations by the AA. The AA and many car accessory retailers will also be concerned about many now redundant stock items, with the AA saying it has some 50,000 items of stock it will now need to change.