Driving Licence "Tourism" - advice needed please

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

I think I may be about to lose my UK Driving Licence.

I have read a little about Driving Licence “Tourism” - where one obtains a licence from another country so they can keep driving.

Does anyone know anything about this please - all help and advice would be appreciated. I have relations in Spain and friends in Ireland, so these places would be easiest for me I suppose.

2

Another urban myth I fear…

I have UK and US driving licences, the US licence would allow me to drive in the UK but not if I had been disqualified. You dont actually lose your licence, you are disqualified from driving in the UK whatever licence you have.

(You can be disqualified even if you dont have a licence)

3

Martin:
You dont actually lose your licence, you are disqualified from driving in the UK whatever licence you have.

Yes, even if you were to obtain a ‘clean’ foreign licence you’d still be banned and therefore driving illegally.

4

Fair enough, I appreciate the replies.

However, there is a possibility of me getting a job in Spain, so I will still need a licence. Anyone know anything more?

Specifically, I’d like to know:

  1. If I can obtain a Spanish licence by presenting my UK licence.
  2. If the Spanish authorities will want to retain my UK licence.
5

You can get a licence for Spain using your UK licence as a qualification, but I’m sure the Spanish licence will only be valid whilst you hold a valid UK licence. So if you do get disqualified in the UK you still have a problem.

I think the EU will have this ■■■■■■■ somewhere :open_mouth:

Look here dvla.gov.uk/drivers/drvingb.htm#2

6

Martin:
I think the EU will have this ■■■■■■■ somewhere :open_mouth:

I think they are in the process of trying to tie it up, however I think they haven’t yet, which is why I’m trying to sort this out now.

A quick search on Google for “Driving Licence Tourism” would seem to suggest that there is still a loophole of some sort.

Thanks for the help.

7

When I changed my U.K licence for an Irish equivalent the U.K licence was sent back to the DVLA in Swansea.
I wish now that I’d kept the U.K one and sat a test to get my Irish one.

8

Antony:
When I changed my U.K licence for an Irish equivalent the U.K licence was sent back to the DVLA in Swansea.

Same thing happened with me in France. Wish I’d got a duplicate first now and exchanged that, but it doesn’t really matter because I’m such a model citizen these days. :open_mouth: :laughing:

Salut, David.