billgates

Now I know that this topic has been done to death, but I'm wondering if there has been any new ruling....

English chap I was talking to the other night was stopped by the GC outside a village in the Costa Tropical area and asked to see documents. His car was illegal, uk registered, etc. fair enough.

However, as a Spanish resident, he was also told that he must change his licence over to a Spanish one. He has a UK European style photo licence with his uk address on it. He argued that a UK European licence is legal in Spain but the GC were having none of it. Apparently the only legal cross-country European licence is one that has been issued in Belguim. Any other European style licence is only legal in the country it was issued.

Now I was under the impression (from this forum) that the UK consulate had issued some sort of translated legal document stating that UK licences did not have to be changed for UK nationals residing in Spain.

I know some people will advise that if you live here then to just change your licence over for the convenience and lack of hassle from the GC, but can someone (Fred?) clarify the actual legal requirements because some of us actually like our UK licences and would like to keep hold of them.

Fred James

Nothing has changed recently and that includes the Guardia's occasional insistence (wrongly) that you must have a Spanish licence.

You are not obliged to change it but you must renew it in line with Spanish law. This used to be a problem when Spanish licences for anyone over 45 were only valid for 5 years and the UK photocard licence was valid for 10 years.

Spanish licences up to 70 are now issued for 10 years so that problem has gone away. However there is also a requirement to have a Spanish medical, just as Spanish licence holders have to, but the exact details about how long before you need to have one are not clear and anyway Trafico are far more likely, as you said, to reject the licence completely.

I know the document you are referring to but it is a scruffy photocopy of an old document which is hardly likely to have any effect on a Trafico office in a bad mood.

If you want to retain your UK licence but avoid a possible confrontation then one option is to register your UK licence with Trafico and it will be endorsed with your NIE number. It costs €8 and there are more details here

http://www.dgt.es/was6/portal/conten...ruega_2012.pdf

billgates

Thanks for the update Fred.

I take it that the bit about only a Belgium issued licence is complete nonsense then?

Fred James

Almost certainly - I will add it to my "Driving Licence Myths" file

The new EU driving Licence does not come into being until January next year and countries have up to four years to implement it.

MaryJones

As usual it seems that each individual connected with trafico has a different idea to what we are supposed to do.
Friends went to trafico to register their uk driving licences. They came away with a form that they thought said that is what they had done but in fact it was to say they had requested to change it. So, registering it doesnt seem to be correct.
My driving licence photo was about to expire and my husbands expires next year. Rather than renew the UK one, we thought it would be easier to exchange for a spanish one. We had a medical done and went to trafico to change our licences to spanish ones. We paid our money and gave them all our bits of paper. They said they would contact us within 2 weeks after they had contacted the DVLA. This was at the end of may.
No contact, so we contacted the DVLA to ask if trafico had been in touch - yes, for my husband but not for me. Could i then just renew my photo with a UK address. No, becuase we now have it on record that you are requesting exchange for a spanish one (because of this call) but they could send me the information that trafico will request (for 5 pounds) so I can return to Trafico with it.
We have now requested this info from the DVLA and will go to trafico when we recieve it.
I dont mind changing my licence to a Spanish one and dont mind if I have to have medicals (although the one we had was a farce). I just want to be legal.
And we have to close our business for the morning each time we have to do the trip to trafico. aaahhhgggrrrhh

lynnxa

you can register your UK driving license in Spain - it isn't obligatory though

here's the form http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/resource...nscription.pdf

here's a googletranslated version - you obviously can't use it, but it will help if you don't understand spanish

http://translate.google.es/translate...on.pdf&act=url

Fred James

Why don't you get a Gestor to do it for you? It will save you a lot of grief and time and probably only cost about €30

Domino

now that is very Spanish

MaryJones

Yes, we could get a gestor - but decided to do it ourselves!!
The declaracion that Domino has on the info form, is what they said they were going to ask trafico for - but they havent asked for mine. So I've done that for them!
We were given a form 'solicitud previa de validez permiso de conducir a canjear' apparently whilst we wait for the exchange - but this is the same as the form that my friends were given who had just asked to register their licences.

Fred James

When you register you licence they take it away for it to be stamped with your NIE. It's sort of heat etched into it.

In either case you haven't got a licence for a time and the form allows you to drive.

This is about the only valid reason I have seen for not changing a licence in that you cannot use that form outside Spain so if you were planning a trip or even hiring a car in the UK you could have a problem.

MaryJones

well none of us had had our licences taken away to be etched or otherwise! lol
All I wanted was to change my licence to a spanish one as it seemed good timing, lived here for 10 years and as my photo was about to run out.
Wish I'd just used a uk address and updated my photo on my uk one now!
I'll trundle up to trafico next week and see what they say this time.

Domino

announce you are returning to the UK and ask DVLC to rescind the Traffico request ??

Fred James

They will certainly take it off you if you exchange it as they send it back to the UK.

One of our members wrote an entry in the Wiki about his experiences. Have a look at it - of course it may have changed or the person on the dest does it differently but it's a pretty detailed account.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spain_...tocard_licence

MaryJones

yep, exactly the same as me - except I havent got to the letter to go and collect something stage - oh well, maybe I'll just have to wait a bit longer. No problem. I was told 2 weeks, its been 2 months and we're about to hit August.
But, I do have all my bits of paper and copies of, so if I get stopped I can show GC or local trafico what I am trying to do!

Retired in Euskadi

I changed mine in August 2010; cost €22 at Trafico; they kept the UK one & the green A4 sheet & within 3 weeks I had a Spanish one, which looks just the same as the UK one & even has the same categories I'm allowed to drive. No problem. I go to the UK about every 3 months to see my mother, hire a car & again, no problem.