Please come and Asbo my South African neighbours, who have horrible domestics at 3:00am. (And, on one occasion, even bought part of the ceiling down with their scrapping).

''I once read, and I don't know where, that more people have passports in the U.K. than have driving licences, and that more people in the U.S. have guns than have passports.''

I suspect this probably isn't true, but I enjoyed it anyway

adrienne -

You've missed the point. Most americans don;t have passports. And while most adults do have a driver's license not all do. and many don;t carry it with them at all times.

In the US you are NOT required to carry - or even have - any official form of identification. there simply is no such thing.

And if stoped by the police you may choose to cooperate and tell them who you are - but unless they have reason to suppose you have committed a crime they have no right to stop you. And they have no right to force you to identify yourself - that is - refusing to identify yourself is not a crime, as it is in some parts of the world.

I have been stopped by the police naturally (for a traffic ticket) and did provide ID. But if a cop just randomly stopped me on the street and asked for ID he would get nothing from me - unless he had a very good reason for wanting to know. And if he arrestd me he would end up being sued for false arrest.

In this isntance out laws are different from those in much of the world.

In the US you are NOT required to carry - or even have - any official form of identification. there simply is no such thing.>>>

Nor are you in Britain. But you are in continental Europe (another reason to hate them).

''I once read, and I don't know where, that more people have passports in the U.K. than have driving licences, and that more people in the U.S. have guns than have passports.''

That could well be true.
There must be many under 17 year olds who have passports.

Ahem. If pulled over while driving in California you must provide your license, registration and proof of insurance.

Somehow I feel that those "driving while black" (or even walking in some places) in the US might find themselves asked for ID, and might not be happy with the results of refusing to show any.

I don't know why everyone has been so mean. I hadn't found the answer in my travel book, so I thought this would have been the best place to ask. I feel foolish. I simple no would have sufficed. I was only hoping to get my passport stamped.

Nancy, don't feel foolish. You didn't know and you don't learn unless you ask. It's much better to ask something that some will look down at as a silly question than to get there and not have what you need available.

I've always been told that you don't need it for ground travel, but that you should have either your passport or a photocopy of it available any time you're in a foreign country.

Hey Nancy
I am glad I had to ask my questions to the US site who are far more helpful than my fellow brits.
Your question was no more stupid than a lot of questions I have come across on this site.
As the saying goes the question isn't hard if you know the answer
I do hope the answers you have recieved do not put you off coming to the UK
Have a lovely holiday

I am with you Nancy! I am reading your thread as I had the same question for the same reason! I hope you enjoyed your visit!

You take a ferry from Scotland to Northern Ireland....no passport necessary, right? You then cross from Northern Ireland into the Republic....no border formalities exist on the highways, right.

But you take a ferry from Wales to the Republic of Ireland, passport or national identity card needed, right?

Just wondering.

"Just wondering"

Wrongly.

1. British citizens legally require only identification (which can include your library card) to travel to the Republic. Non-Europeans need a valid passport

2. It is physically possible for a non-European to get from the British mainland to the uncontrolled intra-Irish border without a passport, though in practice civil rights in Northern Ireland work differently from in Britain, and the government can impose the requirement to carry ID. Public transport across the border IS subject to random Gardai ID inspection (mostly designed to control the flow of illegal non-European migrants these days, though antiterrorism Army, PSNI and Gardai inspections can be reimposed whenever the security situation changes )

3. The fact that it's possible for a non-European to evade rarely imposed controls still doesn't make it legal not to have a passport in the Republic.

Question flanneruk...just to make it clear almost certainly one would travel with one's passport when crossing any border. Also when I fly from say Heathrow to Dublin, there is a passport control at Dublin airport....when I fly from say New York to Dublin via London, I actually have to go through a British passport control as the flights to Ireland leave from terminal 1 as well as the passport control in Dublin with a US passport....but haven't I read somewhere there are proposals out there to end the common border area and impose some sort of controls between at least Britain and Northern Ireland or it Britain and the Republic?

We all know it's just the civil servants who have nothing to do just cooking these things up just like the whoe bureacacy has led to more stringent controls, after many years, being placed at the US-Canada border even if it meant constructing the fences down the middle of some streets (the Berlin solution) of towns that lie on the US/Canadian border (although it is totally off topic, the only reason for this nonsense is since there is so much trouble at the US/Mexican border, the officials don't want to be branded as racist by not putting similar controls at the US/Can ada border even though there is absolutely no real need for them).