When Do The Clocks Change In The UK? The USA? Other countries?

Map of time zones from Wikipedia. As you see, some continents contain different zones. Best to check locally. One year we drove from Portugal to Spain at Christmas and found that the clocks were an hour different - which meant that we were still on Portuguese time and were still happily eating our Christmas dinner and puzzled when the anxious Spanish staff were trying to hurry us up had already sat down to start theirs.

Problem
When do the clocks change? I was sent a notice on Facebook that clocks change on March 11th 2018. A UK friend replied: "Not in the UK!"

As I suspected, 11th March is the date of the clock change in the USA, also Canada and Mexican northern border cities.

So when is the time change in the UK?

Answer
I checked online. In the UK it is the last Sunday in March. Who says?

https://www.gov.uk/when-do-the-clocks-change (Link repeated at end of post.)

If the government says so, they should know.

More details from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time (Link repeated at end of post.)

In the UK the debate rages backwards and forwards every year. The farmers want things left the way they are.

However, road safety societies say we can reduce accidents by abandoning the system. You might like to look at the past and future pronouncements by the AA (British Automabile Association) and RAC (British Royal Automobile Club).

The UK is an hour different to European time. This is bad for business. Changing to be on the same time as everybody else would be more convenient.

To minimise disruption, in the UK the clocks change at 1 am on the Sunday morning, in effect an hour after midnight on the Saturday night. So for the majority who don't work on Sunday, less inconvenience.

One of the best things we ever did in my UK home was to buy a radio-controlled kitchen clock. First thing in the monringk over breakfast, we know the real time. We can then check other clocks, the free-standing clocks and wall clocks, the clocks on ovens and microwaves, on watches and in cars.

On Friday and Saturday we have sent out reminders to everybody attending meetings over the weekend. Our biggest problem is the Sunday afternoon book group. There's always one person who forgets and arrives late.

If you go to the supermarket or grocery store for a Sunday newspaper and need to arrive before the papers sell out, make sure to set your alarm for the new time. You may need to re-set all the alarms on your clocks, watches and mobile phones.

I like to keep my wristwatch and car clocks five minutes fast. That give me five minutes or ten minutes in hand so I am likely to be five minutes early rather than five minutes late.

Angela's Last Top Tip
So you know which day to change the clocks, but which way do you turn them? The American saying is: Spring forward; fall back.

Useful Websites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_by_country
https://www.gov.uk/when-do-the-clocks-change

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.