Battenburg markings

A Victoria Police vehicle with blue-and-white Sillitoe tartan

In the development of Battenburg markings, one of the key goals was to clearly identify vehicles associated with police. In this regard, the pattern was reminiscent of the Sillitoe tartan black-and-white or blue-and-white chequered markings first introduced by the City of Glasgow Police in the 1930s, which were subsequently adopted as a symbol of police services throughout the United Kingdom; they are also used by the Chicago Police Department, Australia,[5] and New Zealand. (Although Sillitoe patterns identified vehicles associated with police and other emergency services, they were not highly visible.)

After the launch of Battenburg markings, police added retro-reflective Sillitoe tartan markings to their uniforms, usually in blue and white.

A New South Wales Ambulance response vehicle, with red-and-white Battenburg markings and additional reflective stripes intended to increase overall visibility

In Western Australia, St John Ambulance Western Australia uses green-and-yellow markings, while New South Wales Ambulance uses red-and-white Battenburg markings on ambulances and patient transport vehicles.[6] Australian police utilise the similar Sillitoe tartan markings.

Common Battenburg markings used in Australia
	St John Ambulance Western Australia	Yellow and green
	New South Wales Ambulance	Red and white
	South Australian Country Fire Service	Yellow and orange

Ambulances in Belgium, 2018

Fire services vehicle, 2018

In response to the terrorist attacks on 13 November 2015 in Paris and 22 March 2016 in Brussels, the Belgian federal government conducted an analysis on the functioning of the emergency services during terrorist attacks. The main issue identified regarding the emergency medical services was that their recognizability (of both vehicles and personnel) had to improve, so that emergency workers would be able to identify qualified medical providers more quickly during an intervention.

An agreement was made between the federal government and the communities and regions to implement the same new vehicle markings and uniforms. Specifically, emergency ambulances and response vehicles would keep the yellow base colour, whilst non-emergency ambulances would get a white base colour. Both types of vehicles would be marked with retroreflective yellow-and-green Battenburg markings, similar to British ambulances.

A new uniform for medical personnel was also introduced, with different colours for the Star of Life for the different types of workers.[7]

Aside from medical vehicles, some new fire brigade, Civil Protection and highway services vehicles also use respectively yellow-and-red, blue-and-orange and yellow-and-black Battenburg markings.

Common Battenburg markings used in Belgium
	Emergency medical services	Yellow and green
	Police force (Antwerp)[8]	Yellow and blue
Uncommon Battenburg markings used in Belgium
	Fire services	Yellow and red
	Roadside assistance Taxicabs in Brussels	Yellow and black
	Belgian Civil Protection	Orange and blue

Ambulance in the Czech Republic, 2012

Hong Kong was a British Dependent Territory until 1997. Some emergency vehicles and special vehicles in the Hong Kong Police Force, Hong Kong Fire Services Department, Auxiliary Medical Service, and Hong Kong St. John Ambulance use Battenburg markings.

Common Battenburg markings used in Hong Kong
	Police Force, Traffic Branch Headquarters	Yellow and blue
	Police Force, a few other vehicles	White and blue
	Fire Services Department, Mobile Casualty Treatment Centre	Yellow and green
	Fire Services Department, Hazmat Tender, and Fire Motorcycle	Yellow and red
	Fire Services Department, Mobile Publicity Unit, and Fire Safety Education Bus
	Fire Services Department, Emergency Medical Assistant Motorcycle, Rapid Response Vehicle and Paramedic Equipment Tender
	Fire Services Department, Mobile Command Unit, and Forward Command Car	White and red
	Auxiliary Medical Service, Paramedic motorcycle	Yellow and green
	Hong Kong St. John Ambulance, Ambulance

Danish emergency vehicles can have one of two options: a series of diagonal lines, or a Battenburg pattern. The diagonal lines must be either red-and-white or red-and-yellow at an angle of 45° ± 5° and have a width of 100 mm ± 2,5 mm. In the front and rear of the vehicle, the markings must be made symmetrical in a way that traffic is lead around the vehicle.[9]

Battenburg markings used in Denmark
	Police	Yellow and blue
	Ambulances, doctor cars and similar	Yellow and green
	Fire Department	Yellow and red

Vehicles may have a reflective text in the above colours, describing their function; for example "POLITI" (Police), "ALARM 112", "AMBULANCE", "LÆGEVAGT" (Doctor), "INDSATSLEDER" (Incident Commander) or similar text.

The above patterns are not obligatory. For example the Danish Emergency Management Agency have chosen to simply not have any reflective marking on their vehicles.

All rescue vehicles in Bavaria which have been procured uniformly since 2017 have a foiling in the Battenburg marker.[10] From 2019 the ambulance service in Schleswig-Holstein started to adapt the design.

Bavarian Red Cross Schleswig-Holstein Ambulance

Orange and yellow

In 2018 the Icelandic police started marking new police cars with blue and neon yellow markings similar to Battenburg markings used in Europe. Since then the police cars in the capital region have been made even more visible. In 2020 were Icelandic ambulances changed to look more like ambulances in Europe, adopting yellow and green markings. Icelandic Search and Rescue started adopting Battenburg markings in 2016 with red and yellow markings similar to the fire services.

Battenburg markings used in Iceland
	Police	Yellow and blue
	Ambulances	Yellow and green
	Fire Department	Yellow and red
	Icelandic SAR

A Land Rover Defender field ambulance from Dublin Civil Defence, Ireland

Emergency ambulance in Dublin Ireland

In Ireland, a similar system to the UK is used with some variations.

Vehicles of the IRCG

Common Battenburg markings used in Ireland
Battenburg	Service	Colours	Example
	Garda Síochána (police) Airport Police Service	Yellow and blue
	HSE National Ambulance Service St John Ambulance Ireland	Yellow and green
	Fire and Rescue Order of Malta	Yellow and red
	Civil Defence	Blue and orange
	Coast Guard	Orange and yellow
	Mountain Rescue	White and orange
	Red Cross	Red and blue

A New Zealand Police car

The New Zealand Police use yellow-and-blue Battenburg markings on some vehicles.[11] Until October 2008 general duties vehicles were marked in orange and blue, with yellow and blue for highway patrol units; orange and blue was phased out in 2014.[12] Vehicles of New Zealand's St John's Ambulance Service/ Wellington Free Ambulance are marked with green-and-yellow Battenburg markings or rows of green-and-yellow half-chevrons. On 1 July 2017, New Zealand's urban and rural firefighting organisations amalgamated into Fire and Emergency New Zealand, with a new brand including Battenburg markings to be rolled out to the fleet.[13]

Common Battenburg markings used in New Zealand
	Police	Yellow and blue
	St John Ambulance/Wellington Free Ambulance	Yellow and green
	Fire and Emergency New Zealand	Yellow and red

Swedish Volvo V90 police car with Battenburg markings (2017)

Saab 9-5 (2011)

Originally Swedish Police vehicles were painted with black roofs and doors or black roofs, bonnet, and boot. During the 1980s the cars became white with the word "Polis" written on the side in a semi-futuristic typeface. Later the livery became simply blue and white. In 2005 they began using a light blue and fluorescent yellow Battenburg livery. Swedish police cars have been Saabs, Volvos or Volkswagens, with the same livery all over Sweden. A recent Swedish trend is to also use Battenburg markings on road maintenance vehicles, with an orange-and-blue colour scheme, as in the UK rail response type shown above. A study by the Swedish Road Administration showed a significant traffic calming effect when using orange-and-blue Battenburg marking to improve the visibility of road maintenance vehicles.[14]

Common Battenburg markings used in Sweden
	Police	Yellow and blue
	Ambulance	Yellow and green
	Fire Brigade	Yellow and red
	Road maintenance	Blue and orange

Swiss Border Guard vehicle

The first Swiss ambulance service with Battenburg markings was the emergency medical services in Zofingen. Since 2008, they have used Battenburg markings on their Volkswagen Crafters and Mercedes-Benz Sprinters. They use white-and-red markings on their ALS units.

Another Swiss service with Battenburg markings is the Swiss Border Guard agency, which uses yellow block markings on its vehicles.

Common Battenburg markings used in Switzerland
	Swiss Border Guard	Yellow and navy blue

A BMW X5 of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, with half-Battenburg markings

A Land Rover Discovery used by National Highways traffic officers with black-and-yellow Battenburg markings

A Network Rail van with a narrow strip of orange-and-blue Battenburg markings

In the United Kingdom, the majority of the emergency services have adopted the Battenburg style of markings; nearly half of all police forces adopted the markings within three years of their introduction, and over three quarters were using it by 2003.[1]

In 2004, following the widespread adoption and recognition of the Battenburg markings on police vehicles, the Home Office recommended that all police vehicles, not just those on traffic duty, use "half-Battenburg" livery, formalising the practice of a number of forces.

In the United Kingdom each emergency service has been allocated a specified darker colour in addition to yellow, with the police continuing to use blue, ambulances using green, and the fire service their traditional red. Other government agencies such as immigration enforcement have adopted a variation, without using the reflective yellow.[15]

The use of these colours in retro-reflective material is controlled by the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989, with vehicles only legally allowed the use of amber reflective material (and red near the rear of the vehicle),[16][17] A number of civilian organisations have also adopted the pattern, which is not legally protected, and a number of these also use other reflective colours.

An alternative to the use of reflective materials is the use of fluorescent or other non-reflective markings, which may be used by any vehicle.

Common Battenburg markings used in the United Kingdom[18][19]
Battenburg	Service	Colours	Example
	Police Forces	Yellow and blue	City of London police car
	Ambulance and Doctors	Yellow and green
	Fire and Rescue	Yellow and red	Red and yellow battenburg marking on a London Fire Brigade appliance
	NHS Blood and Transplant, Blood Bikes and some 4×4 responders	Yellow and orange
	National Highways traffic officers, Welsh Government traffic officers and DVSA	Yellow and black
	Rail Response	Orange and blue
	Mountain Rescue, Lowland Rescue, and Cave Rescue and most 4×4 responders	White and orange[19][20][21][22]
	HM Coastguard	Yellow and navy blue
	Immigration Enforcement, Border Force, HM Customs and Excise	Sky blue and navy blue[15]

Battenburg markings on law enforcement vehicles in the US are rare; however for a time the Miami Township Police Department in Ohio has previously used ones similar to those found in the UK on their police cars.[23]

Battenburg markings are also used in South Carolina's Charleston County for EMS vehicles.[24]

Similar story in Canada, Battenburg markings on law enforcement vehicles are also rare and uncommon just like in the US; however unlike the US, Canada has slowly integrated more Battenburg markings on some of their EMS vehicles in recent decades, more notably Ontario and Québec. Other parts of Ontario that utilizes the Battenburg markings in their vehicles vary by region and city, such as the Region of Niagara,[25] Greater Sudbury,[26] Peterborough,[27] Lanark County,[28] and Frontenac County[29] all uses half-Battenburg markings on some of their EMS Vehicles. While the province of Québec uses half the Battenburg markings on almost all of their EMS vehicles provincewide and not by region.[30] According to the article on June 4, 2021, the St. Thomas Police Department in the province of Ontario had tested out their new Police cruisers with the new Battenburg markings. Inspired by the UK's Battenburg design with the familiar blue and yellow reflective markings in order to help enhance visibility within the city.[31][32]

• 
  A Mercedes-Sprinter Ambulance in Niagara Region uses half-Battenburg markings.
• 
  A Dodge Caravan half-Battenburg marking EMS vehicle used in Québec.
• 
  A paramedic truck parked in Montréal with the Battenburg markings.