Nobody gets stopped at the border and asked for their warning triangle. You get caught weeks later, by a camera, in a city you were driving through on the way to somewhere else, and the fine arrives at your home address months after that.
This is the list of things a UK registered campervan actually needs to drive through western Europe, in the order you should sort them.
Prices and rules last checked: August 2026. Vignette prices change annually. Check the official operator sites before you travel.
Documents
Your UK driving licence. The photocard alone is enough across the EU. An International Driving Permit is not required for EU countries for short visits, though a couple of non EU countries still want one.
The V5C registration document. The original, not a photocopy. If the van is on finance or lease you need a VE103B hire certificate instead, which the finance company issues and which takes time to arrive, so ask early.
Insurance certificate. UK insurers must provide minimum third party cover across the EU automatically. That is the legal minimum, not your comprehensive policy. Check with your insurer whether your full cover extends abroad, for how many days a year, and whether it includes the habitation contents. Many policies cap European use at 30 or 60 days.
Green Card. Not currently required for EU travel from the UK, but this has changed before and could change again. Check before you go rather than assuming.
Passports. Valid for at least three months beyond your intended departure date from the Schengen area, and issued within the last ten years. The ten year rule catches people out with renewed passports that have carried over extra months.
Breakdown cover that works abroad. Domestic cover does not extend automatically. European cover for a vehicle over a certain length or weight often costs more, and some providers exclude vehicles above 3.5 tonnes entirely, which matters if you have up-plated.
The UK identifier
If your number plate has the UK identifier and the Union flag, you need nothing else. If your plate shows GB, the EU flag, a national flag alone, or no identifier at all, you must display a UK sticker. The old GB sticker is no longer valid. It has to say UK.
Mandatory kit
Requirements differ by country, but carrying the full set covers you everywhere in western Europe and costs very little.
- Warning triangle. Required almost everywhere.
- Hi-vis vest for every occupant, stored inside the cabin rather than the boot, because in France you are legally required to put it on before you get out.
- Headlamp beam deflectors. UK dipped beams point left and will dazzle oncoming traffic. Stickers work, or adjust manually if your headlights have that setting. Some modern vehicles have a travel mode in the menu.
- First aid kit. Mandatory in Germany and Austria among others.
- Spare bulbs. Mandatory in a few countries, sensible everywhere.
- Snow chains or winter tyres, seasonally, in Alpine regions. Requirements are date based in some countries and condition based in others.
Breathalysers in France are no longer enforced with a penalty, but the kits cost almost nothing.
Emissions stickers
These are the ones that generate fines, because they are camera enforced in cities you may only be passing through.
France: Crit’Air
A windscreen sticker classifying your vehicle by emissions standard. Needed for low emission zones in Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Strasbourg, Reims, Rouen and a growing list of others.
Order from the official French government site, certificat-air.gouv.fr. It costs a few euros. Avoid reseller sites, which charge many times the official price for the identical document.
The physical sticker takes weeks to arrive by post to a UK address. The crucial detail: the PDF certificate emailed to you after ordering is legally valid on its own. If you are leaving in three days, order it, print the PDF, and put it on the dashboard. That is sufficient.
A van registered in the last few years will be Euro 6 and will get a favourable classification, so this is a paperwork exercise rather than a qualification question.
Germany: Umweltplakette
A round green sticker for German low emission zones, which cover most large German cities. Once fitted it is permanent and vehicle specific, so it is a one off job.
Order online in advance, or get one same day at a TUV or DEKRA testing station, which are common near the border. Bring the V5C. Any Euro 4 diesel or better qualifies for the green sticker, so a modern van is straightforward.
Others
Belgium, the Netherlands and several Italian and Spanish cities operate low emission zones with their own registration schemes, some of which require online pre registration rather than a sticker. Check the specific cities on your route rather than the whole country.
Motorway vignettes
Several countries charge for motorway use with a time based pass rather than per kilometre tolls. Buy from official operator sites. Reseller sites sell the identical product with a fee bolted on.
Switzerland
The Swiss vignette costs CHF 40 and there is no short term option, so a single day of transit costs the same as a year. It is valid from 1 December of the previous year through 31 January of the following year, so a 2026 vignette covers you from December 2025 to the end of January 2027.
It is available as a windscreen sticker or, since 2023, an e-vignette linked to your plate. The e-vignette is sold through the official customs portal and becomes valid immediately after purchase, which makes it the sensible choice for a last minute trip.
Driving on a Swiss motorway without one is a CHF 200 fine, and you still have to buy the vignette.
One thing that differs from Austria: in Switzerland a trailer or caravan on the motorway needs its own separate vignette.
The Gotthard tunnel is covered. The Grand St Bernard and Munt la Schera tunnels are charged separately on site.
Austria
Digital, linked to your plate, and needed on all motorways and expressways for vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes, which includes vans and motorhomes.
The 2026 prices are 9.60 euros for one day, 12.80 euros for ten days and 106.80 euros for the year, with a 200 euro substitute toll if you are caught without one.
Easy to miss if you did not plan to enter Austria. Several routes between southern Germany and Switzerland cut through the Inntal, so check your actual mapped route rather than your mental one.
Note that some Austrian mountain passes and tunnels carry separate route tolls on top of the vignette.
France, Italy, Spain
Conventional toll booths, paid per journey by card or cash. No vignette. Budget for it, because French autoroute tolls in particular add up quickly over a long trip. Be aware that motorhome and van classification at French toll booths depends on height and axle count, and a tall van is often charged in a higher class than a car.
Practical sequencing
For a trip leaving in under two weeks, the order that works:
- Check passport validity and insurance cover abroad. These are the two that cannot be fixed at short notice.
- Order Crit’Air from the official site. Print the PDF.
- Buy the Swiss e-vignette and Austrian vignette online. Both are instant.
- Buy or check the Umweltplakette. Order online if you have a fortnight, otherwise plan a TUV or DEKRA stop near the border.
- Buy the kit. Triangle, vests, deflectors, first aid kit.
- Check your route for low emission zone cities you had not thought about, particularly if you are passing through rather than stopping.
- Check the UK identifier on your plate.
Weight, which nobody checks until they do
A warning that applies specifically to campervans. Most panel van conversions are plated at 3.5 tonnes, and a fully loaded van with full water, full fuel, bikes, awning and four people is often over it.
European enforcement of overweight vehicles is more active than in the UK, particularly in France and Germany, and the fines are meaningful. Weigh the van loaded at a public weighbridge once, and you will know for good.
If you are consistently over, up-plating may be an option depending on the chassis, though it brings licence category and speed limit implications that are worth understanding before you commit.
