Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Rodney - have you thought of signing up for a "refresher" driving course? I have a cousin back in the UK who learned to drive when she was in her 20s.
She never really liked driving and when she got married her husband did all the driving. Her husband passed away a couple of years ago (he was only 64). Anyway, even though my cousin had a valid UK license, she hadn't driven for years and was too nervous to take the car on the road. She signed up with a driving school and took some lessons and it all came back to her. She got her confidence back and now drives everywhere. I understand your situation is different (my cousin didn't have to retake the test) but I am sure there are some driving schools out there that could offer lessons. Not sure how expensive it would be, but if might be something to check out.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

I'm not sure not being in possession of a physical licence necessarily means you would have to retake a driving text - for example, someone who had simply lost their licence wouldn't expect to retake a test just to get a replacement licence.

I think if you contact the DVLA (or maybe try ordering a replacement licence online) with all your details - NI number, date of birth etc I suspect you might be able to get a replacement with no need to sit a test.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Train tracks and side streets: https://www.flickr.com/photos/island...7644546283987/

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Lovely photos Rosie. It looks like you live in a really nice town. I hope someone finds the missing cat!! Strangely enough, I was walking around my neighborhood here in Ohio yesterday evening and I saw a similar poster. As you can probably guess, I am a cat lover:)

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Dont forget the photo, they need those now too...

I was going to get a new photo license last year but they needed my birth certificate.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

I had to renew the photo part of my licence last year, but my passport had been renewed recently enough for them to use the same picture as that - can't do it the other way round, though ie use the driving licence photo for your passport :)

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Hi rebs,
believe me when I came back home almost 4 years ago I contacted the DVLA I told them that I need to apply for a replacment licence, told them I had a valid U.K. licence before I left to live in USA, but have lost my UK licence over the decades, they took my name, and UK address national insurance # and they looked me up in there system and I was shocked at there answer and the speed, they came back on the line again within minutes and said we show that you handed over your UK drivers licence to the DMV in Reno in 1977, and they said as I did that I now have to pass a written, theory, and drivers test as though I had never had a licence in this country!!!! I have tried everything, and it always comes back to the same answer, I told them I have been driving since I passed my test in London in 1962 when I was 17,and that I have had a USA licence from Nevada for the last 37 years, and its still valid, and Im coming up to my 69th birthday now, they said it makes no difference the only way I can get another UK drivers licence is to apply for a provisional licence, drive with a licenced driver by my side, display L. plates, take lessons, study, and pass written test, theory test, and then drivers test,
Im not going through all that, driving over here is not that important to me!!!!
Ill take the bus and walk, I need the excersise anyway :)
And guess what these DVLA rules only apply to a U.S. licence, Canadians can just exchange there licence for a U.K. one, Australians can, and so can New Zealand, and every single country in the E.U. which I think has grown to about 30 countries now and growing by the month :eek: and just like America ---- the whole of Europe drives on the right side of road, so thats not the reason that they single out the U.S. so I wonder why, kind of crazy me thinks :confused:

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

All those countries have a reciprocal agreement with the UK, while the US doesn't have one with the UK.

Ireland, Malta and Cyprus drive on the left too, it's not just the UK. We are ready with our swords.:D

About a 35% of the world population drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies.

Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him.



Napoleon Bonaparte was a leftie and he needed to ride on the right to keep his sword at the ready. He wanted everyone else to follow what he did (even though other people were right handed).


Left-hand driving was made mandatory in Britain in 1835. Countries which were part of the British Empire followed suit. This is why to this very day, India, Australasia and the former British colonies in Africa go left. An exception to the rule, however, is Egypt, which had been conquered by Napoleon before becoming a British dependency.

Although Japan was never part of the British Empire, its traffic also goes to the left. Although the origin of this habit goes back to the Edo period (1603-1867) when Samurai ruled the country,
http://www.worldstandards.eu/cars/driving-on-the-left/

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

I didn't know it was compulsory to take driving lessons now. Is that a new requirement? It probably makes sense for new drivers, but I would have thought a previously licensed person could just take the tests.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

You only have to pass the theory, hazzard and practical tests. Drivers tend to take a few lessons to get rid of bad habits that could make them fail.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Yes I think I will take a few lessons.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

We all get bad habits once we pass the tests:) Someone I know from Malta, took lessons because of driving on the M25. You can see the ones that haven't on that motorway, they are hunched forward and clinging onto their steering wheels.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

We do.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

That seems really harsh! And rather unfair...

Good tip then not to hand over your licence to another agency. For our time in the US we sat tests in Texas to get licences and they never asked for our uk licences.

Re: Over 40's Moving Back and Catching Up
 

Plus with the new criminality laws and 'good character' requirement, being caught committing a driving offence could mean a delay (extra visa/s to pay for) before being granted ILR or UK citizenship.