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We moved to Austria in 2009 and kept our UK licences until earlier this year. Although we were full-time resident in Austria, we still owned the UK house to which our licences were registered, although our car, brought over from the UK, was running on Austrian plates. Like France, there was no compulsion from Austria to change the licences. We exchanged them for Austrian ones earlier this year when we sold the house in the UK.
I must admit I didn't realise it was illegal for a UK resident to drive a foreign-registered car in the UK - can't see a good reason why as long as it's taxed, insured, and MOT-compliant in the country of registration. I guess while we were visiting the UK we were on dodgy ground , but I doubt whether anyone would bother digging round enough to start debating the residency question.
From what I gather, there are a large number of Brits abroad with UK licences registered to friends addresses in the UK. I suspect that the reason is that only UK residents are entitled to UK licences.
To put your mind at rest, why not get a French licence?
Edited by Mike H on 21/10/2012 at 18:15
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I must admit I didn't realise it was illegal for a UK resident to drive a foreign-registered car in the UK - can't see a good reason why as long as it's taxed, insured, and MOT-compliant in the country of registration. I guess while we were visiting the UK we were on dodgy ground , but I doubt whether anyone would bother digging round enough to start debating the residency question.
Its not and never has been.
You also have a UK address so licence still legal.
Edited by Collos25 on 21/10/2012 at 19:02
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Its not and never has been.
BigJohnD's quote seems to imply otherwise, although it looks to me like a grey area, where someone is full-time resident in another country (and registered in that country as such), but still has an address in the UK. It can hardly count as a holiday home if one is full-time resident there!
Anyway, it's academic now for us as we have Austrian licences.
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I see it as thus:
Under UK law (RTA 88) regarding the use of a vehicle in Uk one must hold a Part 3 Licence (UK issued) or as a visitor a domestic Driving Licence from country of residence.
A UK Licence is regarded as an EEC Licence - one which can be used in EEC (France)
In this case the poster holds a VALID UK LIcence authorising him to drive the class of vehicle used on UK and French roads.
The problem is that the address on the UK Licence no longer appertains to the holder and it is an offence to fail to notify change of address and surrender LIcence to DVLA. (S 99 RTA 88)To do so Licence should be forwarded to DVLA. Whether they would accept French address is doubtful but I don't know.
The offence of failing to notify change of address carries only a fine no endorsements.
Would DVLA accept change of address as a Box number or person willing to accept documents on behalf of Licence holder????????
HMG were supposed to harmonise Licences - one EEC Licence to cover all EEC states. Stiull in a b***** muddle????
dvd
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I regard our legal brain the best on this site but you have only repeated what has already been said.
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As a matter of interest when it is so easy to get a driving licence from the country of residency (in the EU) why persist with an illegal UK licence un less there is an ulterior motive like non payment of tax and insurance.
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One reason to avoid obtaining a local licence is to side step provisions for incurring penalties and eventual loss of licence. Preumably this is why driving a foreign vehicle on a UK licence is frowned upon. Whilst it may be acceptable in the short term, on a permanent basis it could be seen as an atempt to outwit the cameras etc.
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There is no pressure on UK licence holders in France to get a French driving licence. However, if you lose points then you WILL have to get a French licence as evidence of the deduction.. You can't 'side step' it, you are traced by your regisitration plates and the gendarmes will be round with more fines otherwise.
It's the lamentable quality of British bureaucracy that is at the root of this issue. It can always be depended upon to make life pointlessly complicated while at the same time touching you for another administration fee or fine.
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Unless things have changed and I am sure they haven't I took my UK licence along with 3 photos to the licencing dept. of my city in Germany and left with a new licence.
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I had the option of swapping my British licence for a Spanish one when I bought a car in Spain , or else sending my British licence off for registration at the DGT ("DVLA") in Madrid: this latter process meant keeping my British licence up to age 70 with a "Spanish resident" registration stamp (there are spaces on all EU licences to facilitate this). This way, the authorities know where I live, although any EU resident living in Spain is meant to register on the "padrón" (electoral roll) by law in any case, so if they want to get you - they will!
The problem with keeping a British licence when residing abroad - and much of this is equally applicable where the countries are reversed - is that (i) the address on it is wrong; (ii) the photo still has to be updated somehow; (iii) driving in another country may mean a regular medical test or even re-taking the licence every 10 years, as in Italy, and if you fail to do this - even though a British licence holder does not need to do so in Britain - you're breaking the law. And finally (iv) it immediately draws attention to yourself if you are ever stopped by the police, and they may start digging and they may find an unpaid parking fine or who knows what? So why risk it? It makes perfect sense after living abroad for, say, six months to have car, insurance, licence and other papers all in order and from the same country. The very same Little Englanders running British registered, untaxed, unMot'd and often uninsured cars on the Costas for years and years are the same Little Englanders who moan about Polish plumbers dodging road tax, parking fines and the Congestion Charge in their FSOs months after settling in Britain.
I decided to swap for a Spanish licence (the great advantage of EU membership is that I didn't have to take lessons or a new test!) mainly because a "re-registration" is not possible unless you have a photo card licence, which I didn't at the time. One disadvantage is that my driving categories were reduced to the applicable Spanish ones, meaning that I cannot drive a not-for-profit 15 seat minibus or 7.5 tonne LGV. Oh, yes, and the Authorities now have a record of one fingerprint, shock horror for civil liberties campaigners. However, I regularly use my Spanish driving licence as ID - it has the same number as my defunct "NIE" ID number and income tax identifier, although no address is printed on it - since EU residence cards have been abolished - another long story for another day!
Edited by Bilboman on 24/10/2012 at 01:13
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Unless things have changed and I am sure they haven't I took my UK licence along with 3 photos to the licencing dept. of my city in Germany and left with a new licence.
If you had a new style photocard licence, that may have been true. We still had paper licences, which meant here in Austria we had to get certified translations. The whole process, including translations, licence fees etc. cost us around €250 for the two of us (wife & me).
We also had to get a written confirmation for each of us (fax or letter), confirming our licence details, from DVLA, which necessitated several phone calls and a payment of £5 each. This would have been necessary even if we had had photocard licences.
All of which is a positive disincentive to change! We took the plunge after selling our house. A side effect is that our Austrian licences do not expire at age 70 (I think they changed it a few weeks ago) unlike UK ones, so there are no ongoing renewal costs.
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The "renewal" required at age 70 in UK and every three years after that is purely adminstrative and is not charged for (yet!)
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Guys, I read through the topic. I have a similar problem.
I have been in UK for about 4 years. I graduated uni a year ago and now I am going for a master here again.
In March, I have exchanged my EU licence for a UK one at the adress I am currently living. Still technically, I am not UK citizen, I am Bulgarian. So I have a UK licence, UK address, Bulgarian ID and Passport.
I have read that since I am a student I can drive a foreign plates car for more than 6 months. I want to use a car from Bulgaria with my British licence. All taxed, MOTed and insured back there.
Is it legal?
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Guys, I read through the topic. I have a similar problem.
I have been in UK for about 4 years. I graduated uni a year ago and now I am going for a master here again.
In March, I have exchanged my EU licence for a UK one at the adress I am currently living. Still technically, I am not UK citizen, I am Bulgarian. So I have a UK licence, UK address, Bulgarian ID and Passport.
I have read that since I am a student I can drive a foreign plates car for more than 6 months. I want to use a car from Bulgaria with my British licence. All taxed, MOTed and insured back there.
Is it legal?
Yes, being a student here is one of the allowable exceptions. I had some correspondence with DVLA on the subject of a UK resident driving an EU-registered car in the UK, and part of their answer states, that an allowable exception is:
"where a student uses a private vehicle registered in the Member State of his normal residence in the territory of another Member State in which the student is residing for the sole purpose of pursuing his studies". So as long as your vehicle is road legal in its country of registration (tax, MOT, insurance) you're fine.
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That is good then :) Most likely after finishing my studies I will move out of the country. Or if I stay, I will re-register the vehicle over here.
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Possibly a bit tangential as I don't currently live in the EU, in my first couple of years away from Blighty I didn't need a car but my UK license photo expired and I called the DVLA, I still own the UK property at the address on the licence but was told that I could not register an address outside the UK or renew if I wasn't ordinarily resident in the UK. I enquired whether my UK licence was still valid and was told that it would be renewable upon my return to the UK.
I dutifuly exchanged it for a local license in my (then) country of residence where they were happy to accept a UK photo-ID license for up to 2 years after expiration. I have subsequently moved to a third country (state) where driver license photo ID is habitually requested and so exchanged (my UK license) for a second time. You can drive here on your UK license as a temporary resident but you are still liable to speeding fines and points will be accrued against any licence you might apply for in the future - say if you decide to take permanent residence. All of this cost me around GBP100 a time so wasn't a cheap option. When next in the UK I can legitimately proffer licenses from 2 non-EU countries but not the UK.
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thanks for your answer as well, I am just worried that the police will be confused with my paradox, that I have to bring with me a whole bunch of documents to prove it.
Here is the next thing, the car I'll be driving with bulgarian plates will be previously UK-registered vehicle. Is that also an Issue
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thanks for your answer as well, I am just worried that the police will be confused with my paradox, that I have to bring with me a whole bunch of documents to prove it.
Here is the next thing, the car I'll be driving with bulgarian plates will be previously UK-registered vehicle. Is that also an Issue
No, it doesn't matter. It is now Bulgarian registered and wherever it was previously registered is irrelevant,
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