Hi all,
I’m a British guy living and working in Finland. I did all my HGV 2 training in Finland plus got my CPC (with photo id) and Digi card from here. For the last two years I’ve been driving 18t trucks and doing multi-drops in the Helsinki area.
O.k so now I’m thinking of returning to the U.K and I’m wondering how easy it will be to transfer my Finnish quals and license over to a U.K license? Also I want to start HGV 1 training as soon as I return (middle of next year). Will it be easy enough to sign up for a course with my Finnish license?
I can’t think there would be too many problems. Perhaps the biggest problem might be that I have to wait. Also need a permanent U.K address? Can I start HGV 1 training using my Finnish license?
Can you not take an LGV test after obtaining a counterpart to an EU licence using this form? gov.uk/government/publicati … rs-form-d9
Notwithstanding the 6 month rule.
I wonder why I need to have resided in the U.K for 6 months prior? I guess it would be possible to come back to the u.k, swap my Finnish HGV 2 license for a U.K one, drive HGV 2 for 6 months and then take the test. As long as U.K companies don’t mind that my driving experience is in Finland?
The 6 month rule is there to stop"driving test tourism" i.e. taking the test in the country you perceive to be the easiest even though you don’t live there.
You sign a form to say you are UK resident, but no one can or will check.
Thanks all, for your replies. Seems quite clear now. I might want to do some HGV 2 driving in England first - just to get used to the road conditions again.
I would hope that my driving experience in Finland would be valued. We have difficult driving conditions at certain times during the winter. So may be that counts towards something.
ROG:
Curious - what is involved in getting the LGV C licence in Finland?
These days the Cat C (HGV2) license is a 3 month course ( 280 hours of training if you are new). Probably costs about 3000 euros - maybe more?
It used to be that you needed 2 years HGV 2 before you could take the HGV 1. I’ve been told this rule still applies, but the situation is unclear at the moment. In any case, you need to have a good grasp of Finnish in order to take either of the HGV courses and it looks like HGV 1 will also take 3 months? Pretty sure that there will be a driver shortage.
No problem about resurrecting the old thread. Time wasn’t right for me to make a move back to England. Now its sure I’m coming back. Will be back mid October. Thanks for taking time to reply.