So it's not illegal after all?

UKIP MP, Bob Spink, did an excellent job of publicising the stupidity of the law that prevents us from legally displaying our national flag on our car number plates but allows the EU ring of stars logo.

This law has been around for a while now and I first came across it over three years ago after an Englishman was prosecuted for having an English flag on his number plate.

Jim Fitzpatrick, a British transport minister, told Bob Spink that it was illegal to put anything other than the EU ring of stars logo on car number plates. Then he thanked Bob for bringing it up and said they'd change the regulations to allow national flags on number plates.

Which is great but it turns out that the regulations quoted by Jim Fitzpatrick don't actually ban the display of national flags on number plates, they merely recognise the EU ring of stars logo with country code (GB, F, I, etc.) as valid identification of the country of origin of a vehicle so a sticker isn't required. It doesn't require that an EU ring of stars logo appears on a number plate and it doesn't forbid the use of national flags on number plates.