Is your UK driving licence expiring?

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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

EU Directive
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/home/driv ... 005_en.htm
(last update: 19-12-2007)
Notably:
Having established my normal residence in another Member State, can I renew the driving licence in my country of origin?
No, in such case it is no longer possible to apply to the country of origin for the renewal of a driving licence. You must address the authorities of the country of normal residence. It is not possible to choose between the two states for the renewal of the licence.
Mrs H you have still not stated whether ot not your principle residence is in France or in the UK. This is surely what would finally determine your case. It seems not to be a matter of "wish", according to the above site. If you are a legally permanent resident in France, then it would seem your case would parallel that of the Dutch example shown on the site.

This doesn't seem to tie with the info given by Michael (Paddyfrog) so I wonder also where his info came from.
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opas
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Post by opas »

Now I am really going to upset your apple cart Roger.

You have a French Licence, only because you reached 70 and decided to let go of your UK one even though you admit you have not even set foot on their soil for donkeys years. You also own and drive a Brit plated vehicle and have done so for many years despite the fact that you say you havn`t lived or been there for many years, I beleive you do not have an address there, you seem to imply that you use your sisters address for that.

I hope the French flics do not suddenly get au fait with EU law....ie that one should import a vehicle befor 6 months of that vehicle being imported/exprted from its country of registation....this can be extended to 12 months in certain cercumstances

I do know someone who was only on a short visit to UK who very nearly had their french plated vehicle crushed as the Brit police stopped them and wanted more proof that the vehicle had not been in UK for longer than they had said.........


Why would anyone want to live in one country and use an address that they have no claim to............you wouldn`t want their council tax bills!
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

opas wrote:You also own and drive a Brit plated vehicle and have done so for many years despite the fact that you say you havn`t lived or been there for many years, I believe you do not have an address there, you seem to imply that you use your sisters address for that.
Opas, I have never owned a Brit plated car in my life - where on earth did you get that idea?? In the UK I used a company car (the first car I ever drove) from the Britannia building society where I worked 1965-1970 when we left for Switzerland - never owned my own car in the UK. In Switzerland didn't need a car - cheap, regular efficient public transport until I got divorced in 1981, then occasionally used Annaïck's LNA which she brought with her (44 French plates - she was working in Nantes before - changed to ZH plates in Kanton Zürich Kloten).

When that one breathed its last, we bought, in 1990, an AX GTI export in Kloten with Swiss plates (ZH) which was enough for us (Annaïck and I) for shopping and driving up to Brittany for family visits.

We took that same car with us to France where it got French plates in 1994 courtesy of Service des Mines at that time.. then later sold it. Annaick bought her AX for work in 1995 and we bought the Nissan Primera in 1998 for my work and as family car, both with 06 plates. We still have those two cars which carried 66 plates from 2003 till this January.

Currently, they are 4146RC11 and 4147RC11 respectively, duly registered with cartes grises at Carcassonne prefecture in January 08. Welcome to view anytime.

Cars are not important to us except as conveyances and "workhorses". We are not interested in the "keep up with the Jones symbolism" of a new latest model upmarket car every year or two - which seems to be a bit of a Brit disease..

My sister has our old family house in Barton, Torquay, which we inherited when Mum died in 89. My sister "bought" my half from me and is sole owner with Phil, her husband. I use that address only as a "pass it on" or contact address for convenience and it is also in my passport as backup emergency address in case anything would happen to Annaïck and me both, for example. It is not used for any administrative purpose fraudulently or genuinely.

That's about it..
Actually not! Frankly, I would be bloody ashamed - and above all, embarassed - to drive a Brit plated car as a permanent French resident! I like to blend in - in every sense.
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sue and paul
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Post by sue and paul »

Well said. I have to say, Roger, that I didn't recognise the 'description' of you and your behaviour in Opas' post.
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opas
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Post by opas »

I hold my hand up! I was wrong about the brit plated car........
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john
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Post by john »

I'll second that Sue. I can't see how Rog,having not lived in UK for donkeys years would have a GB car!

With all due respect to everyone concerned,having a GB plated car and driving on a UK licence are two COMPLETELY different things.

As someone said;it's the LAW here to change your car to F plates when you are resident (my German,Swiss and Belgian nieghbours who've been driving on D,CH and B plates to my knowledge for the past 5 yrs,please note......)

It is NOT against the law to drive here on a UK licence these days.

Still no-one has come up with any real benefit to changing to a F licence. The benefits (quite apart from the stuff to which Roger refers) of changing the car to an F plate are obvious. No road tax,MOT only after 4 yrs and thence every two,and having valid insurance,to name but three.
Mrs H

Post by Mrs H »

Roger O wrote:Mrs H you have still not stated whether ot not your principle residence is in France or in the UK. This is surely what would finally determine your case. It seems not to be a matter of "wish", according to the above site. If you are a legally permanent resident in France, then it would seem your case would parallel that of the Dutch example shown on the site.

This doesn't seem to tie with the info given by Michael (Paddyfrog) so I wonder also where his info came from.
I live permanently in France.

This does directly contradict PaddyFrog's assertion so it would be interesting to hear from him.

Are you there PF?
Last edited by Mrs H on Sun 14 Sep 2008 20:31, edited 1 time in total.
wendyj
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Post by wendyj »

An English driving licence doesn't have to be changed unless you get points on your licence in France.

An English driving licence cannot have a foreign address on it. The authorities realise this and turn a blind eye to the situation.

My French driving licence DOES SAY only valid until 70 yrs old.

It is easier to get a French licence than to renew an English one... as I found I would have to post my passport to the UK... recorded delivery etc blah blah blah.
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

wendyj wrote:An English driving licence doesn't have to be changed unless you get points on your licence in France.
Wendy, it does if you become 70 and your old one runs out - and you don't want the hassle of getting another UK one, especially as I, personally, have absolutely no UK residency. My only contact with UK officialdom is my DSS pension every 3 months to Crédit Mutuel, Perpignan. Roger
My French driving licence DOES SAY only valid until 70 yrs old.
Mine has no validity date for permit B on it - honest! I could scan it and prove it. Roger
Last edited by Roger O on Sun 14 Sep 2008 19:30, edited 1 time in total.
wendyj
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Post by wendyj »

Wendy, it does if you become 70 and your old one runs out - and you don't want the hassle of getting another UK one
>>>>>>>>> ok, I'll give you that one.

My French driving licence DOES SAY only valid until 70 yrs old.
Mine has no validity date for permit B on it - honest! I could scan it and prove it.
>>>>>>>> well there you go, nothing is the same in France - shall I scan mine?[/quote]
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

Hope the French are not sexist concerning DL validity - anyway, ladies live on average a good few years longer than men!! Annaïck, my (French) wife had hers issued in Dakar when she was 18 (her father was local Michelin sales area manager) and that has neither address nor validity date - but a very charming photo of a yound girl with long hair and twinkling hazel eyes!!
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john
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Post by john »

Did Senegal count as part of France in those days Rog!?
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

Still does!! Baksheesh, you know!!
carol sheridan
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Post by carol sheridan »

I incurred one point for being 5 kms over the limit about five years ago. Nobody asked for my UK licence, so I didn't do anything about it. I think that point has expired now, but I think I will still keep my UK licence. I have no intention of ever going over the speed limit again but I have had so much hassle from the CPAM trying to get a carte vitale (still not arrived after nine months) that I am reluctant to involve French bureaucracy in my life any more than is absolutely necessary.
When I am 70, I will use my daughter's UK address to renew my licence - I can't see how that will be hurting anybody.
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blackduff
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Post by blackduff »

I think you'll have to take a medical test when you're 70 in the UK.

Blackduff
carol sheridan
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Post by carol sheridan »

No, you don't. I have the forms for renewal.
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PaddyFrog
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Post by PaddyFrog »

Re UK driving licences:

The problem originally arose because of the DVLC insistence that a Brit Licence had to have a current UK address and that it cannot have a overseas address.
Therefore if you move abroad, your Brit licence will not then be valid.

End of story!!!!!!

But the European legislation quite clearly states that if you take up residence within another member state you can continue to use your previous states licence.

How then do you legally drive on a suspended Brit licence ( No UK address) .

If you are resident within another member state and return to the UK, are you barred from hiring a car because your Brit licence shows a different address than which you give on the rental agreement.

This was taken to the ECJ where they made a fudged decision allowing overseas residents to use their last known UK address as the address of record.

The ramifications are immense:

If you loose your Brit licence the competent authorities to supply a duplicate are the country of residence.

Therefore you could get a case where the French authorities have to issue a duplicate without any test being taken within France, now would this licence only be valid until 70 years of age, after all a duplicate mirrors the original.

The documentation was available at the time, but I have tried to find it without any luck.

but the logic of the argument is still there today.

The DVLC accept your ability to use a community license within the UK until you reach 70 and clearly state so.

But this will not have a UK address. strange that!!

:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
Michael
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

PaddyFrog wrote:but the logic of the argument is still there today.
I'm hard put to find any real logic in most of this!
More the impression of each EU member defending its own little patch
and having a hard time to accept change?
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

hello, everyone.
back from blighty and warmed up now.

we almost changed our licences to french ones a month or so ago because ours said they expired in 2009 sometime.
then mr polremy found out that we only need to renew the photos on them.
haven't done it yet but presume that we can just send away our licences and new photos and ask them to send the new licences to our french address (but still with our previous english address on the new licence).

do you think this will work? has anyone out there done this?

mind you, i havent aged at all in the last 9 years. so i shouldn't really need to go through this rigmorole (that doesn't look right!).

it's so good writing to people who cant see you, isn't it.
mpprh
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Post by mpprh »

The noose is tightening - from the Telegraph :

Thousands of Britons flashed for speeding in France each year may soon be getting points on their licence back home, it has emerged.

Full story :
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/euro ... cence.html

Peter
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

i dont care.
i never speed.
i drive a 2cv.
mind you, mr polremy got done once in england doing 37 in a 30 mile an hour zone. (same car - 20 years ago)
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PaddyFrog
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Post by PaddyFrog »

polremy wrote:i dont care.
i never speed.
i drive a 2cv.
mind you, mr polremy got done once in england doing 37 in a 30 mile an hour zone. (same car - 20 years ago)
It just goes to prove the quality of European Motor Manufacturers.
Michael
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

PaddyFrog wrote: It just goes to prove the quality of European Motor Manufacturers.
Now UKIP would scream that you are insulting the UK (which is, of course, definitely NOT European!) by insinuating that French built cars are superior... aye aye aye!!!
Serge

Post by Serge »

polremy wrote:mind you, mr polremy got done once in england doing 37 in a 30 mile an hour zone. (same car - 20 years ago)

Was the speed camera on the back of a truck coming in the opposite direction?
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

he was going so fast he didn't notice.
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

well, we think 37 is fast.
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

that is miles, not kilometres, you understand.
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

59.2 kph! Wow!
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