Mate of mine has exchanged his UK licence for a southern Irish licence for various obvious reasons… Anyways in the month hes had it hes been parked up twice by VOSA, the last being Thurs by and was told to park up for 24 hours, sure as hell 6 hours later hes off and on Fri morning he phones me telling me hes in soutehrn Ireland filling up… To me hes mad, earning top dollar but being pushed to earn it…
Anyways where does the law stand on people with foreign licences?? Can VOSA just park them up and thats it?? Is there no prosecuting them as they are foreigners etc??
To me it doesnt seem exactly fair that he, and prob hundreds more are doing this and only gettign parked up for a few hours… If it were me I would have lost my licence now.
Its the only powers vosa have on foreign licence and foreign trucks at time. Its wrong and every way as if you was to do it there country you be fined etc was speaking irish lad at morrison he was paid by mile and had to work for it there for hardly sleeping and mostly driving big safety hazards they are. companies like that should have there trucks seized and maybe they will learn the hard way
Yeah same with my friend, he paid by the mile too, prob same company, infact prob same bloke lol… But hes paid a set wage then a % of what the lorry earns…
Seems daft and such an easy way out… to think hes only 24 and racked up 11 points in 2 or 3 years driving is unreal…
It also seemed such an easy process for him to get this licence… IE:- All he needed was a irish address to be a resident at and that was that, he surrendered his uk licence and was issued a irish one…
its good way to clear points off licence when he changes back to uk 1. defo not same guy as he was old school guy late 40s lol i dont dare move when i run out of time far to easy to loose licence in this day and age
Yeah deffo, hes on 11 just now and think still another case to go up for… All these points racked up for when he was driving for REIDS transport - Ireland… But he seems set now with this southern irish licence… Seems a bit of a god send, run the way you want and if you get caught its a slap on teh wrist and parked up for x hours… Well only a gidsend if you earn per mile…
Need to also supposedly have a social security number to get a RoI licence as well now.
Traffic police can get you sent to court and get you fines for violations plus court can’t take your licence off you but could ban you from driving in the UK. Plus if he has a serious accident and has been breaking rules he will still end up in jail.
Think a more realistic view on foreign licences is by Orys in a post before, where he explained what powers can be used against you if you have a foreign licence. Its not as some may think carte blanche to do as you please.
If you’re UK resident on an EU licence then you have a comply with the resident requirements
If you’re non-resident on an EU licence you can be slowed up. Whilst not immune to prosecution, it’s less likely.
I need to find it, but was there not some bi-lateral agreement on mutual recognition of driving bans between the UK and IRL? (Surprise, surprise they haven’t done it, still in talks)
Besides, HMRC can tell pretty quickly if you are resident or not.
You do indeed need a PPS number to get a licence or even register a vehicle here. Not the most difficult thing to get hold of. A bill and a letter from the “landlord” of the house would get you one.
I dont know what way hes set it up IE:- paying cash in hand, in bank wether it be an irish bank or uk one, how hes paying taxes etc etc… Its a fair way to go to keep a hold of your licence… I know people can be pushed hard but I think he sees the £££ signs instead of a healthy living… I was just interested in seeing what the law can do to you if you run a foreign licence, and by what peopel have said not much as of yet, which is rather silly meaning you can run the way you want and only be parked up a few hours…
i had a uk license for a while.
it wasnt so good the day i was stopped in dover and vosa found a few probs with my hours.
they smiled when they saw my uk license.
i thought after that,they can ■■■■ off.i went back to ireland and changed my license.i have a house over there although i live in liverpool.
i pay a monthly mortgage in ireland and run an irish bank account.
i can prove irish residense and hmrc can ■■■■ off as well.
i wouldnt take a uk license again,with those power hungry vosa beez.
its doesnt make me a cowboy,i just dont see why i should put up crap from vosa thats not nessessary.
i do keep to my hours,but that doesnt stop them from finding infringments anyway.
the best thing anyone can do is to change thier license if they can find an address.
some people may find this an unfair advantage,but jealousy is a terrible thing.
I KNOW a lot will disagree with me for various reasons but I would like to see an EU LAW that says ALL drivers MUST be hourly paid (owner drivers exempt).
I wonder how many would then do what has been mentioned previously in this thread.
Do you have any children or a partner who you love?
If you don’t maybe your parents are still alive and kicking ■■?
This mate of yours is an accident waiting to happen and it could be somebody youlove who ends up under his wheels!!
However difficult it might seem to ‘grass somebody up’ but it is something you really need to think about doing. This mate of yours sounds like a major danger on the roads that we have to work on and if he killed somebody you care about, or some other person just going about their daily life, you will never be able to forgive yourself.
This is something you really need to think hard about because of your knowledge about his behaviour and if anything serious happens with him you will have to live with that forever!
greg50:
some people may find this an unfair advantage,but jealousy is a terrible thing.
I’m not jealous Greg, and if it’s done for the reasons like you have I can understand it; doing it in order to blatantly break the rules is another thing though and people who do that are COWBOYS, CROOKS AND CRIMINALS nothing less.
Might I suggest that one of the main reasons why VOSA come down hard on drivers is simply because of jerks like the bloke referred to in the OP who screw it up for the rest of us. Not just breaking the law, but giving the public another chance to tar us all with the same brush.
Its obvious then from your response to this ongoing post, macplaxton, that you don’t really have anyone you love or care about !!!
Exploiting the EU rule & regulations is a great way to allow idiots, unqualified & banned drivers on the roads and just maybe when this idiot we have been discussing falls asleep and drifts across 3 lanes onto the opposite carriageway straight into the front of whatever vehicle you are driving at the time.
I’m sure if you are still alive you will be screaming for millions of euros in compensation and certainly not saying how good it is to be able to exploit the EU rules & regulations.
Mind you from your post it appears that maybe you fit in to this category of a so called HGV driver who has had to cover up their past misdemeanors by ‘exploiting the EU Rules & Regs’.
If there is anyone who accesses this site and supports this way of getting round the rules & regs then I feel very sad that the industry has gone that far down and am very happy that I made driving my secondary income from 1990.
I don’t see why I should change my UK licence for an Irish one and have to pay more money for a medical to exchange it when I don’t need to Is that’s not me taking advantage of my rights?
I have no points on my UK licence for all the time I’ve had it, (1991).
I’m not condoning breaking the law, but if there’s a legitimate alternative that is to my benefit, then why shouldn’t I exercise my rights to take that alternative? I have no problem with anyone else doing so.
As I said: “Blame the government for not getting it’s finger out and introducing something that a) counters the problem b) complies with EU law.”
Just like in taxation matters, there’s a fine line between avoidance and evasion, but they’re not the same.
i do 9 or 10 hrs a day whatever is needed.i do keep the 10 hrs to twice a week,
i dont need to go and do all the hours to make a living.
but vosa and co are only looking to get you for something.
i have been reprimanded for things in the past when i was under the impression i was 100 percent.
last time i did the full one hits was back in the early 90s when we got away with it,im not interested now,but i am not interested in the crap vosa issue.
my best line of defense is my irish license and i make no apology for it.
i will never change it back to a uk one.
if the irish and uk government get their heads around it which is happening,
i will see then what i can do to avoid the 2 of them.
i will always keep my door open to escaping some of the silly regs that are in place.
ie taking 44 mins instead of 45.
do me a favour.
this is crazy,getting prosecuted for something like this.
As I said sounds like you would be someone who complains when their pulled for lots of driving off the tacho/digi card and all the other things that go along with that and then think they can just obtain another licence (clean) from another EU country and carry on as before.
If you got your ‘licence’, was that for a car or 7/5 tonner or maybe something bigger, in 1991, then you are still a bit of a newbie and I’m sure some of the old and new hands who post will find your attitude to this unacceptable.
If there is anyone reading this please respond!
Do we condone the exploitation of the EU Rules & Regulations to allow rogue drivers back on the roads to kill our loved ones!!!■■?
