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Driving With A Foreign Driving Licence In
Scotland
European Community and
European Economic Area
Austria, Belgium, Czech
Republic, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia,
Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
Visitors
If you hold a valid
community licence and are visiting Great Britain (GB),
you can drive any vehicle if your licence is valid. The
appropriate full entitlement for the vehicle you wish to
drive must be shown on your licence.
Residents
If you have a valid
community licence, this will authorise you to drive in
GB for the period set out below.
Provided your licence remains valid you may drive in
GB:
Car, motorcycle driving licence holders (ordinary
driving licence):
-
until aged 70 or for three years after becoming
resident, whichever is the longer period
Lorry, minibus, bus driving licence holders (vocational
driving licence):
-
until aged 45 or for five years after becoming
resident, whichever is the longer period
-
if you are aged over 45 (but under 65) until your
66th birthday or for five years after becoming
resident, whichever is the shorter period
-
if you are aged 65 or over for 12 months after
becoming resident
In order to continue driving after these periods, you
must get a British driving licence.
Register of community
licence holders
Holders of community
licences with vocational entitlement who live in GB must
register their details with the Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Agency (DVLA). For further information you can
contact them on 0870 240 0009.
Notifying health
conditions
You must tell DVLA about
conditions which existed before you came to GB and which
you may have already notified to the authorities, as
well as any conditions you have recently become aware
of. In most cases, the rules will be the same as those
in other EC/EEA countries although there may be some
differences. Higher visual standards apply for
vocational drivers in this country.
Taking a driving test
If you want to take a
British driving test you must be normally resident in
GB. However, if you have moved to GB having recently
been permanently resident in another state of the EC/EEA,
you must have been normally resident in GB for 185 days
in the 12 months prior to your application for a driving
test and a full licence.
To take a GB driving test you will need to either:
-
apply for a GB counterpart licence (D58/2) by
completing a D9 (available from embassies or DVLA)
and enclose your community driving licence, which
will be returned to you. The provisional licence
document is issued free of charge. However, the
appropriate fee must be paid and your community
licence surrendered in exchange for a GB one when
claiming the full entitlement
-
exchange your community licence for the British
equivalent and request the appropriate provisional
entitlement
Vehicles which community
licence holders may also drive in GB
Community licence holders
with category B entitlement can also drive certain
vehicles in GB, which are exempt from the normal large
vehicle driver licensing requirements. These include
non-commercial minibuses driven on a voluntary basis,
permit minibuses and large vehicles such as agricultural
motor vehicles and road construction vehicles. Further
details about these vehicles and the conditions that
apply to them can be found in the fact sheet "Special
Licensing Arrangements For Drivers of Large Vehicles"
available from DVLA.
Community licences issued
in exchange for licences from elsewhere
A community licence issued
on the strength of a licence from a designated country
will be valid for driving in GB for 12 months only and
is acceptable for exchange purposes.
A community licence issued on the strength of a licence
from a non-designated country will be valid for driving
in GB for 12 months only but is not valid for exchange
purposes.
A licence from any country outside the EC/EEA, which
was originally issued on the basis of a community
licence, will be valid for driving in GB for 12 months
only and is acceptable for exchange purposes. Evidence
of the original EC/EEA entitlement must be provided.
Much of the above information was taken from the website
listed below (With thanks) http://www.direct.gov.uk/Motoring/DriverLicensing |
roadtrafficlaw.com
