yafm

The new law for New South Wales and Victoria (don't know about the other states) on 19th January means that we no longer need to take a driving test. They just look at the UK licence and issue you with an australia one marking your uk licence accordingly.

We paid out $64 to take the test on 5th January Grrrrrrrr

However good news for the rest of you

mlbonner

Opppsss!!


WA is the other state that is like this as of 2005.

QLD has no plans to change (or at least that is the official response ATM)

jayr

Can always rely on QLD to do things after the other states. I hear L plates come in as of next week...

ABCDiamond

LOL, you mean L Plates are re-introduced again, but what about NSW ?

Sometime back in the 1980's, you could just come to NSW from the UK, and swap your UK licence for a NSW licence, then they changed it, so you needed to do a Theory test, then they changed again, and you had to do a Practical test, then they changed again, and you just had to do a Theory test, then .... wait for it... they changed again, and we are back to the original situation, you just swap the licence. phew......

Wol

But, Yvonne & Colin, does it not give us all a self-righteous glow since we know ALL the rules of NSW now?






<g>

soapy©

ah, but u can now tell all the newbies your a real driver

walaj

sods law will be that by the time we get out there, it will have changed again.

teagg

I'd like to type what I've just thought in response to this - especially as I was silly enough to take it personally when the bint in the RTA gouged out a V shape from my UK licence.....
oh well... it was fun spending evenings with DH studying for the test!

JackTheLad

What is this I keep hearing about them destroying your UK licence? When I did my test a few months back in QLD, they took a photocopy of my UK licence, and gave it back to me. I didn't give a damn anyway, I had a duplicate, so even if they destroyed it, i still had my UK licence (long story, but it was a legit duplicate, I thought I'd lost my original many years back and then found it again after I got the duplicate).

So anyway, is it standard they destroy (or take a snip out of) your UK licence here, and was I just 'lucky'? Or is it different for QLD.

And just my personal tuppence worth, I think its wrong just to exchange your UK licence for an aussie one. There are subtle differences in the driving laws here. By making you take the theory test it makes you read the road manual! It helps you understand all the cryptic signs like (3P) on a motorway lane, I'm sure you can guess what that means, but then when you see 3P for spaces in a carpark you think, err, what? If you just exchange licences, you'll never bother reading the highway code for your particular state. Be honest, who has ever voluntarily read the highway code!

Cheers,
JTL

E=mc2

Mine was photocopied and returned too. I would not of allowed it to be destroyed as I am quite sure they would bot have the authority to do so.

soapy©

one of my fave words, brought a smile to my face. ive not heard it for nearly a year now

Devlin

I'm surprised that they don't require you to surrender your UK licence and send it back to the DVLA for cancellation. That's what they did with my Australian licence (VicRoads instead of DVLA of course) here when I exchanged it for a UK one.

I don't think the road rules are different enough between Australia and the UK to warrant doing any kind of test IMO.

Wol

Oh but they are different!

Weaving from lane to lane while giving the finger is mandatory here. Also it is an offence to leave more than a metre between you and the car in front, unless doing more than 120kph, when 2m is the distance. And red lights are purely advisory.

ABCDiamond

In the UK are you now allowed to overtake on the inside ?

JAJ

Punching a hole in your UK licence does not 'destroy' it. Nor does it affect its validity in the UK, to the best of my knowledge.


Jeremy