From what I understand, this is a peculiar position. They can stop you and ask but unless there is a good reason for them to suspect you of anything you do not need to tell them or let them stop you getting on with your walk. Section 50 allows them to stop you and only ask for it if they have reasonable suspicion that you are involved in an antisocial act. Lots of ifs and buts, there.
Only yesterday while taking a few tatty troughs and planters to our Local recycling centre on entering now you have to show a form of identification so OH showed his driving licence with picture and our adddress on it . He knows where we live now and OH was NOT amused to put it lightly!!
As I say, not against the idea,apart from the cost as it appears we can't afford anything these days, but I want a physical plastic card, I don't want to have to carry it at all times. I'd be prepared to show it when using things like the NHS or other state run things.
They often say you need ID, but rarely have I been asked for it, probably only banking and similar. The tip I use just wants you to have the booking number, but never been asked for that, they just check your reg no.
As a non-driver I would like to have a form of photo id that everyone accepted and that I can carry in my wallet. The only option currently is a passport.
Round here you have to register your car number plate with the council. CCTV at the sites recognises the number and lets you in.
We have a bloke in a little wooden hut who comes out and checks your reg no. He is usually brimming with his own importance and reminiscent of the old fashioned parking attendant who took your money years ago. They always had a limp.
@shiney our medical card shows we are entitled to treatment under the French system. It does stop medical "tourism" which the NHS would do well to adopt. We have to pay a basic fee for every consultation with our GP and the card registers that. Without the card it would cost a great deal more or be unavailable. It also means people make much better use of their pharmacy for basic stuff like colds, flu, some jabs. We have to produce ID to get into our recycling centre to make sure we live in the area and are paying the local taxes that fund it. There are 3 we can use, open on different days and times with slightly different services and appointments needed for builders' waste etc. Seems reasonable to me.
When any one mentions having to pay something in order to use NHS services there is always a massive uproar from certain quarters, but I see no problem we have to pay towards dental services and have done for years. Those that are against it always say, we don't want to go down that route and end up like America, but there are lots of other examples around the world but they always quote America for some reason. Having said that, we do pay towards dental services but that's a failure as well regarding getting appointments ans NHS dentists. I tend to think the NHS is so badly run that no amount of money will sort it out.
The bloke in the hut at our recycling centre, just checks his list of registration numbers and then gives the thumbs up. I don't know if he has actually ever turned anybody away. Probably not as he seems very comfortable.
@pete we have to pay up front for certain things such as GP, some vaccines, hospital appointments for X-rays/MRI/initial consultations/dentists and dental treatment but they then get refunded wholly or mostly by the health system for accepted procedures. We signed up here for the standard system but now we're older and probably more vulnerable we've added top up insurance which meant I had a private room for my two knee surgeries and months of physio. Saved me from French TV! Last year in the USA over 640,000 people were bankrupted by medical bills. It's lunacy.
We turned up a couple of weeks ago @KT53 to find the registration number wasn't on the list. Turns out my OH had booked in for the previous day by mistake. Chap said "Oh well, you're here now" and waved us in. Thank goodness for that. The car was stuffed !
In my local recycling centre you had to make an appointment and show ID during covid, but now it's back to normal, you just drive in ... I've got my parents' ID cards which they had in the war, they're in a file somewhere. They give name and address, colour of hair and eyes, height (Mum 4 ft 10 ins, Dad 5 ft 11 ins !) and I think GP name. My parents weren't married when they got the cards, so after they did, my mother's surname was crossed out and my Dad's written above it. Also their addresses after they got married were changed. I don't know when these cards became invalid, I suppose sometime in the late 40s / early 50s ? If I get an ID card I'll probably loose it, I'm not very organized.
I’d forgotten about those National Identity cards. They stopped in 1952, I think. No idea what happened to mine.
