I still don’t know howI feel about the T-plate. The brainchild of Scottish hotelier Robert Marshall, this is a sticker bearing a large green ‘T’ (and a smaller ‘Tourist’ postscript) that visitors can apply to the back of their car, just like learners do with a red L-plate and new drivers sometimes do with a green L- or P-plate.
The short of it is that it’s meant to let other road users know that a driver is unfamiliar with the area, perhaps the car and even rules or local driving habits too. On the face of it, this thoughtful, simple idea seems like – probably is – a good one.
Marshall told the BBC that he was “stressed out of my head” during an “awful” driving experience on holiday in Tenerife and just wanted a way to let other road users know that he was a tourist, so that they would give him a bit of patience and slack, like we tend to do for learners. Once back home in Scotland, he started making and selling a way to do that.
Scotland, after all, is not without plenty of visiting drivers who don’t know what they’re doing or where they’re going. Most of the world doesn’t drive on the left and yet Scotland is home to the North Coast 500, one of the world’s most famous and successful (or unsuccessful, if it’s your field that tourists are camping or crapping in) road trips.
Advertising that you’re unfamiliar with these surroundings and that other drivers should therefore be warier around you is potentially quite sound thinking.
The T-plates aren’t officially recognised car signs, but Transport Scotland told CNN: “As we understand it, as long as it’s not offensive, you can put what you like on your car.” It’s simple, sensible thinking and a practical solution. So why do I have any reticence about it at all?
I dunno… Somehow, I’m comfortable going into a fishmonger in France and explaining that I’m sorry but I don’t speak brilliant French, so could they possibly demonstrate a little patience with me while I try to remember the right word for prawn?