Provincial French motorists celebrated a famous victory over Parisian bureaucracy yesterday after winning the right to keep displaying the number plates that show where they live.

In the face of mounting anger in rural France, the Government backed down over a plan to replace the historic vehicle registration system, a key symbol of local identity, with an anonymous code intended to curry favour in Brussels.

Michèle Alliot-Marie, the Interior Minister, said that licence plates would continue to display the number of the département – the equivalent of Britain’s counties – albeit in smaller lettering.

Thus, motorists from the Dordogne will still have a licence plate that ends in 24, enabling them to salute their fellow Dordognons on the road and insult the reputedly more dangerous drivers of Marseilles (13) or Nice (06). Supporters of Lyons football team (69) will continue honking at their arch enemies from Saint-Etienne (42), while all provincials will carry on moaning whenever they see a number ending in 75 – Paris.

The significance of the decision was emphasised by the flood of messages left on newspaper comment forums – almost five times the number generated by President Sarkozy’s antiunemployment programme on the site ofLe Figaro, for instance. “At last a useful measure,” said one user. “Our MPs serve some purpose.”

Sébastien Moulinat, the deputy director of Jamais Sans Mon Département, a group set up to campaign against the reform, welcomed the climbdown. “It’s a sentimental question,” he said. “It’s just good to know where other cars are from and that we’ll still be able to feel proud when we see someone from our own département in another part of France.”

He added: “This is definitely a victory for the provinces because it’s not something they care about in Paris.”

Indeed, the Paris registration number may become a rarity under Mrs Alliot-Marie’s scheme. Although the first seven digits of the new plates (comprising four letters separated by three numbers) will be distributed in chronological order, car owners will be free to choose the final two digits that indicate the département. Few are likely to opt for 75, which is generally a source of harassment when driving in the rest of France. “When I moved to Marseilles with a 75 licence plate, my car was scratched all the way down the side within a week,” said a driver on a radio call-in show.

A few voices criticised Mrs Alliot-Marie for dithering, while pro-Europeans said that she should have gone ahead with the plan to bring French plates into line with those of other EU states.