back to article What Brexit means for you as a motorist

The UK has voted in favour of leaving the European Union and in the past few days the markets have reacted violently, plunging the pound to its lowest level against the US dollar since the mid-1980s. Nobody’s really sure what the future holds for the UK or for its economy, but the referendum result has gone against the wishes …

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  1. J. R. Hartley

    Possibly

    1. AMBxx Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Or possibly not, or possibly something else all together!

      What a pointless article - does the author work for Gartner?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        re. What a pointless article - does the author work for Gartner?

        possibly.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @J.R.

      Exactly.

      Isn't it odd how us in Holland get the same "motivation speeches"? What could the Brexit mean for us: more costs, it'll be harder to go to England, it'll be much harder to get back, etc, etc.

      Basically: "Gas prices in Holland will go up when the Brexit happens" a Dutch news article once claimed. To which I had an obvious question: "So if we don't get a Brexit would that be a guarantee that the prices will remain the same?".

    3. Starace

      Possibly maybe.

      I just ended up wondering what an opinion piece about Brexit related motoring costs is doing in the hardware section of an IT site?

      Though El Reg is rapidly morphing into the technology wing of the Guardian so I'm not surprised this got shoehorned in.

    4. Martin Summers Silver badge

      Exactly what I was thinking. The whole article is full of if could might and expected and totally ignoring the 'will' in the paragraph heading. Mostly all doom and gloom. Fact is the markets and the pound are rallying after an initial spooking, as people have realised that oh look the world as we know it hasn't ended and life has to go on as normal.

      1. paulf
        Headmaster

        @ Martin Summers

        "Fact is the markets and the pound are rallying after an initial spooking"

        Not entirely. Right now (Mon 4 July) Sterling is about £1:$1.32690 which is lower against USD than it was on Fri 24 June after the initial fall as the result became clear.

        As for the "markets" which I'll take as company share values. These are priced in Sterling (pence) but, in the case of the FTSE100 at least, they represent a load of companies that earn much of their gross revenue in foreign currencies. So perhaps the share price for $MegaGBCorp has, nominally, returned to the same level in pence that it was around 22 June but on 22 June Sterling was around £1:$1.48 whereas now £1:$1.33 or roughly 11% below the referendum value. The point is the market has inherently priced in the lower value of sterling which lifts the shares in their native devalued currency.

        It's staggering how many people don't get this relationship - that the hammered currency is priced into the share price "rally" but this is a fact lost on Financial "Journalists" working at pro-leave papers too <coughs>Daily Heil</coughs>.

        If a currency adjusted net drop of 11% is what you call a rally I dread to think what you'd call a crash!

  2. Andrew Moore

    On the plus side...

    Duty Free for anyone travelling between the UK and the EU...

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      Re: On the plus side...

      "Duty Free for anyone travelling between the UK and the EU..."

      If you look at it like that then yeah, it's a good thing. But it comes crashing down to Earth when you can only bring 16 litres of Duty Free beer home with you in the boot of your Corolla.

      1. Mage Silver badge

        Re: On the plus side...

        Duty Free was an Irish invention at Shannon to make money.

        Many "duty free" things are actually cheaper in supermarkets in some countries!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: On the plus side...

      Duty free was a total fallacy. What about the really severe limits on what you can bring back eh?

      Two bottles of plonk or one of the hard stuff. Really? This a step forward?

      Oh, and don't forget about having to pay for a visa to go on your hols. A Visa for France (in the schengen area) could cost you £70 (if they take pounds) each.

      Then we will get to exchange controls. As intriduced by the Wilson Gov to stem the flow of cash from this country. This will limit how much you can take with you when you leave the country.

      Think that this is all pie in the sky? Well, given the lack of a plan the the Breiteers for when they won (like the Iraq war...) and the mood in the EU to stick it to us all those promises about negociating a deal with the EU will be impossible. They could even give us 'unfavouable' nation status.

      What price a few bottles of duty free plonk eh?

      What price all the jobs that will head over to Europe?

      What price the 3 Million unemployed eh?

      IMHO, this was a totally stupid decision and I'm in the age group that was supposed to have voted out.

      I didn't so don't blame me for the mess this country becomes.

      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        WTF?

        Re: On the plus side...

        Visa controls? Seriously?

        Pigs might fly. Even the bloody US operates a visa waiver for the UK and they're seriously fucking paranoid.

        1. Anonymous Blowhard

          Re: On the plus side...

          "Even the bloody US operates a visa waiver for the UK"

          And it costs money...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: On the plus side...

            It's $14, not £70 (although the two may reach parity soon)

          2. James 51

            Re: On the plus side...

            Actually they've brought visas back in all but name and now they want you to hand over all your social media info too.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: On the plus side... (bloody US operates a visa waiver for the UK)

          I would like to point kindly, that the US visa waiver application form is at least 70% identical with a US visa application form.

          On top of which, in both cases you can be kicked out on entry with no real appeal procedure. Don't ask me why, it's because.

          1. JohnMurray

            Re: On the plus side... (bloody US operates a visa waiver for the UK)

            Because of the long list of exemptions from the VWP...

            Which includes traffic convictions...and certain diseases..

            And they do know, because of information exchange between the UK and US.

            And they will know lots more as soon as the EU stops interfering in us giving personal data away to Uncle Sam/Tom/ETC

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: US visa waiver application form is at least 70% identical with a US visa application form.

            The application forms are similar, but the costs and procedures are definitively not.

            My wife has a Japanese passport, she is eligible for the waiver. I have a Brazilian one, and am not eligible.

            She can do the whole application online for 14 bucks. After two days she gets the reply, print it, and it is done.

            I must pay around 140 just for scheduling the interview, then I must travel to a city where they have an embassy or consulate, then wait hours, then wait for one or two weeks to get the visa stamped on the passport. In some cases they may even ask for additional documents like statements from employers and the manager of the bank where I have my account in.

            I don't recall if the visa is valid for 5 or 10 years, and for how long the ESTA authorization is valid. But definitively the procedure is not the same.

            1. Richard 12 Silver badge

              Re: US visa waiver application form is at least 70% identical with a US visa application form.

              And an Egyptian single-entry visa is as follows:

              Pay $15, stick sticker in passport.

              The US ESTA "visa waiver programme" is simply a different type of 2-year multi-entry visa.

        3. Naughtyhorse

          Re: Even the bloody US operates a visa waiver for the UK

          at the moment....

        4. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: On the plus side...

          Even the bloody US operates a visa waiver for the UK

          These days, with an ESTA you can even join the "US Citizen" line and use the same automated passport booths as the locals do.

        5. CommanderGalaxian
          FAIL

          Re: On the plus side...

          Yeah but, to qualify for the visa waiver, you've got to go on line, pay a fee and supply exactly the sort of information that you'd have to supply for, errr, a visa.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: On the plus side...

            $14 for a 2-year ESTA, $160 for a 6-month visa, and for a visa you need to supply a lot more info.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "...I didn't so don't blame me for the mess this country becomes"

        I also won't congratulate you should things turn out rather better than you're expecting.

        Why do you think you're important enough to warrant blame anyway?

    3. P. Lee

      Re: On the plus side...

      So many contradictory statements, no arguments, no evidence... no meaning.

      >Duty Free for anyone travelling between the UK and the EU...

      or they might just do the sensible things and say, "carry on as before," pretty much as is the response in every single area.

      Hello Bong? I've got your nephew Ryan here. He says he works for you.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    With all these "what does brexit mean to you as a ....." articles everywhere is anyone else thinking of the suggestions from DeepThought to Majicthise and Vroomfondle in H2GT2G?

    "Get yourself on the pundit circuit, go on the chat shows and the colour supplements and violently disagree with each other about how brexit might work. And if you get yourselves clever agents, you’ll be on the gravy train for life."

    1. WonkoTheSane
      Thumb Up

      There's ALWAYS room for a HHGttG quote. Have an upvote!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So essentially

    Nothing good has come of this whatsoever? Who'd have thought?

    1. StephenD

      Re: So essentially

      Anyone who thought good would come five days after the vote had seriously not understood things. On the optimistic scenarios, then maybe in five or ten years. Possibly. Perhaps.

      1. itzman
        Mushroom

        Re: So essentially

        Anyone who thought good would come five days after the vote had seriously not understood things. On the optimistic scenarios, then maybe in five or ten years. Possibly. Perhaps.

        But lots of good stuff is happening:

        Cameron is toast,

        Corbyn has revealed what sort of swine he really is

        Labour is toast.

        We get to see Farage hammering it to the EU apparatchiks, and them revealing what swine they are too.

        We get to see Scotland grovelling to the EU, and being told to eff off.

        We get to see BBC 'experts' being wrong, then wrong again, and finally completely wrong.

        And to cap it all there is the possibility the whole EU itself could implode.

        Bob Geldof will never be taken seriously again.

        It's like a massive episode of 'Little Europe' - 'The people say 'Noooowooo''

        The gift that keeps on giving.

        1. CommanderGalaxian
          Happy

          Re: So essentially

          Here we see Scotland being told to eff off by the EU:

          http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-summit-idUSKCN0ZF0LM

          1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

            Re: So essentially

            Here we see Scotland being told to eff off by the EU:

            Not quite. In fact not at all.

            Scotland was very clearly told that it will not get anything as long as it in any shape or form is a part of a non-Eu UK. It has to reapply for Eu status as an independent country outside Uk. That process is dependent on having your laws and regulations assessed as compatible with Eu. This is why it takes 5-7 years. Now, what is the time to assess the laws and regulations which are already compliant and compatible and have not changed?

            Asking once... asking twice... asking thrice...

            So frankly, the only thing which separates Scotland once it declares independence from Eu membership is the two votes in the commission and Eu parliament provided that it does it immediately and forces the issue to a vote as well as forces the "compatibility check" to a vote. The Spanish and the Belgians would love to obstruct it, but in reality, they cannot.

            It is quite entertaining, by "not interfering" in UK internal politics, the EU has just thrown a barrel bomb into the middle of it.

            1. codejunky Silver badge

              Re: So essentially

              @ Voland's right hand

              "the only thing which separates Scotland once it declares independence from Eu membership is the two votes in the commission and Eu parliament"

              Also their deficit has to be 3% of GDP or less (or at least getting there). And as a new member will have to agree to join the Euro.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Joke

                Re: So essentially

                OOhh, this is gonna be a hell of a rebuild to Hadrians wall.....

                Wonder if the EU will fund it.

                Grabs popcorn...

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: So essentially (Hadrians Wall)

                  The party (shortly to replace the conservative party once labour kills itself off) will build it to 'control' immigration from an EU Scotland). At the English taxpayers expense of course, so they decide to tax popcorn...

                  If Scotland leaves, pressure will start building between north and south England IMO.

                2. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: So essentially

                  > OOhh, this is gonna be a hell of a rebuild to Hadrians wall.....

                  > Wonder if the EU will fund it.

                  "The Scots will build it, and the Scots will pay for it"

              2. Voland's right hand Silver badge

                Re: So essentially

                Also their deficit has to be 3% of GDP or less (or at least getting there). And as a new member will have to agree to join the Euro.

                Correct, however they are not obliged to comply with either one of these requirements day one. They can join the Eu by showing a compliance plan and a roadmap on these two.

                The first one is something they need to figure out if they are to go independent anyway. No way around it.

                The second one is something the Scottish voters have to be aware of when voting.

                That is a relatively minor hurdle compared to overhauling you border system, criminal code, law enforcement, health and safety regs, discrimination regs, demonstrating success in beating the mob and the grey economy, etc. This is off the top of my head - what Bulgaria and Romania had to go through as the most recent arrivals. Both did not need to join the Euro, just declare an intent. Bulgaria can execute on it any time they like, they are just not bothered:

                BG debt stats

                So "declaration of intent to join the Euro" clearly does not mean joining it even when you possess the fiscal discipline to have the capacity to do so.

          2. The Nazz

            Re: So essentially

            I wonder what the relative percentages, Remain/Leave will become when Sturgeon, sorry i mean Scotland are told that their bill is £12bn a year and their "allocation" of hitherto non-EU migrants is circa 500,000.

        2. lorisarvendu
          FAIL

          Re: So essentially

          "But lots of good stuff is happening:

          Cameron is toast,

          Corbyn has revealed what sort of swine he really is

          Labour is toast.

          We get to see Farage hammering it to the EU apparatchiks, and them revealing what swine they are too.

          We get to see Scotland grovelling to the EU, and being told to eff off.

          We get to see BBC 'experts' being wrong, then wrong again, and finally completely wrong.

          And to cap it all there is the possibility the whole EU itself could implode.

          Bob Geldof will never be taken seriously again.

          It's like a massive episode of 'Little Europe' - 'The people say 'Noooowooo''

          The gift that keeps on giving."

          Oh well, in that case I don't mind my standard of living dropping, unemployment going up, and generally everything costing me more, just so long as you've had a good laugh.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: So essentially

          "We get to see Farage hammering it to the EU apparatchiks, and them revealing what swine they are too."

          You obviously didn't see the programme I did. In the one I saw, the school leaver at 16 who was found a job by Daddy blanket accused MEPs of never having had proper jobs - untrue - and generally behaved like a spoilt little kid having a tantrum. He ended up by telling them to grow up, something he has resisted doing since he was in short trousers. He was, in fact, being rude to MEPs who had been elected, not unelected civil servants.

          As one MEP remarked, the biggest waste in the EU has been 17 years of Farage's salary.

          1. fruitoftheloon
            Happy

            @Voyna i Mor: Re: So essentially

            Voyna,

            so what do you think of the items in the speech re the failed currency and the f'ed youth generation of southern europe re their employment prospects (which OOI was the main reason why I voted out).

            Do you think many MEPs have much actual experience of the real world vis-a-vis Joe/Jane Doe in Euroland???

            So what would you have the EC do differently?

            Cheers,

            jay

        4. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: So essentially

          "We get to see Farage hammering it to the EU apparatchiks, and them revealing what swine they are too."

          You forgot to mention the bit where EU reps basically called Farage a liar for his Brexit campaign, which was amusing.

          1. codejunky Silver badge

            Re: So essentially

            @ John Brown (no body)

            "You forgot to mention the bit where EU reps basically called Farage a liar for his Brexit campaign, which was amusing."

            I have to laugh when the pot calls the kettle. Except Farage played a pretty honest campaign while both official campaigns were so amazingly FUD I seriously suspected the official Leave campaign to be some sort of trojan horse effort. Until I realised they didnt set the bar any lower than the FUD from the remain side.

            Regardless of the winner this wasnt a referendum we can be proud of.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So essentially

      what do you mean NOTHING GOOD COME OUT OFIT?! We're INDINPENDINT like and stuff!!!!!!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Re: So essentially

      Nothing good has come of this whatsoever? Who'd have thought?

      But weren't we supposed to have doubled the NHS funding, thrown all the foreign johnnies out, and set a date for getting the Empire back (weather permitting) by now?

    4. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: So essentially

      Yes and no. The article is retarded to the extreme and incompetent to the extreme.

      The underlying root cause for the so called "Eu insurance expense" is the fact that a Eu country insurance includes a mandatory 3rd party cover and mandatory validity for at least 3 months a year in ALL European countries and Turkey with the exception of Albania, Belorussia, Kosovo and Albania. With its secession from Serbia, Monte-Negro dropped out of the insurance mechanism, but AFAIK it is trying to (if not already) get back.

      Being outside the Eu does _NOT_ remove this expense. It is part of the standard insurance terms for the whole continent now, not just the Eu.

      So first of all, going outside the Eu will reduce the local insurance costs _ONLY_ if a country also leaves the entire European (not Eu) insurance pool and insurance validity treaties and exchange mechanisms. Going outside the Eu does not change a thing.

      If this happens, this means we will be back to car green cards for everything and the corresponding decrease in validity of cover abroad and massive increase in costs. If that happens, you will see the truckers set the house of parliament on fire with Boris nailed up to the front gate with tools from the truck toolkit on the next day. They will be supported by any industry which depends on trucks to move their goods around.

    5. fruitoftheloon
      Happy

      @AC: Re: So essentially

      Dear AC,

      a lot of good 'has come of this' - quite a lot of folk in the Euroland theme park have realised that maybe they can have a voice....

      Of course it is way too early to say exactly what the +/- items are, anyone who says otherwise is telling pork pies...

      But plusses and minuses there certainly will be...

      JAy

  5. Conrad Longmore

    Passport, driving licence validity

    Where your driving licence will be valid in the UK, there's a possibility that it will not be valid in Europe. Even more likely, the EU-style passport may not be valid for travel to EU countries at least, because travellers will no longer have the rights and privileges of being an EU citizen.. that will be something the EU will have to decide.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Passport, driving licence validity

      Where your driving licence will be valid in the UK, there's a possibility that it will not be valid in Europe.

      Why not? It's valid in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and plenty of other non-EU places, and the reverse is true as well.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Passport, driving licence validity

        Because f***wit it will have an EU stamp on it, to whch we will not be entitled. Therefore, countries in the EU may not honour it.

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