cheers

I have got to find the update section.

Now to do some vacuuming. We are fortunate in this house to have the wall vacuum and this is the first house to have one.

cheers

Check this out. This is an Englishman that had been living in BC and went back. Actually he kept an apartment back there in the UK. He wont come back to US period because of his run-in with the IO at the Canadian/US border but he still owns a business in the US that he needs to sell.
Some nice pictures here. Enjoy

https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1...ed85310fb196be

jasper123

Denise/DDL,
a few weeks ago you were talking about getting your drivers licence, and I was saying that I phoned the DVLA and they informed me that all I would have to do is pick up the D.I. form from post office fill it in, enclose a passport size photo and also my valid U.S. drivers licence and the £20 renewal fee and they will send me my drivers licence in three weeks,
Well I did all that and guess what ----- I get a letter from them today and they said that it is not possible for them to re-issue a full drivers licence to me, and the reason was they said --- according to our records your last full licence which was issued before long period life licenceing began on 1st January 1976, has expired, so I phoned them and they explained that in 1974 I exchanged my old paper licence for a new card # type or something like that, and it was only valid for 3 years, and I had to re-new it buy 1977 and I didn't and let it expire, so because of this I have to take a theory test, and also a drivers test, ----- I even explained that I couldent have renewed my licence because I was living in USA in 1977, all she said was sorry but you let it expire and if you want us to send you a provisional licence then I have to send them £50,
I then called the DVLA in my town here and found out that the Drivers licence test is £62 and the theory test: is £31, is that what you paid Denise?
Did you pass your test yet?
So apparently I was given the wrong info before when I called them, and this time they tell me that a U.S. licence cant be exchanged for a U.K. one ------- like you can if you have a Canadian licence,
Oh well no choice, here I am been driving stick and automatic cars for 50 years ---- and now I have to go through all this again at my age, even though I have a full valid drivers licence from America.

HighSpeedGrandma

Oh no. Awful news. It is a bugger that we have such strict rules. It's the young new drivers that cause accidents, who aren't used to driving and roads etc. Not a disparagement against all new drivers, I was a new driver too and was probably a nightmare on the roads. But you'd think that people that had driven in different countries on different roads for years and years who had already taken tests in both or all countries would have a bit more push wouldn't you!

Beedubya

BUT you did drive on the WRONG side of the road for all those year LOL!!

jasper123

Ha Ha HA HA HA HA HA ---- YEAH YOUR RIGHT Barb but I was really driving on the (RIGHT) side of the road all those years Lol

HighTide

That really is a pain Rodney....sorry to hear that

sallysimmons

Oh bummer Rodney! Still, look on it as an adventure (easy for me to say).

bandrui

I'd love to see the photos but I don't have a google account. Is there another way to view them?

bandrui

It's so annoying isn't it Rodney. Especially when we've been driving for so many years. The money just adds insult to injury.

cheers

I think you can create one at no cost?

sallysimmons

That won't work. The link you posted wasn't to the site in question - it was to a specific email in your private gmail account. I have a gmail account and when I clicked on the link you posted, I was just taken to my own account.

To link to the site you want, you have to first open it from the email you received, and then give us that link.

Hope that helps!

windsong

Aaaghhh! It takes me to my own log-in page for gmail

black swan

Rodney, I know how you feel.

When we returned to the UK after living in Australia for 4yrs I did'nt worry about my Oz license. When we came back the girl said much the same thing 'Your license has expired by a few months so you will have to take the whole thing again'. Although I was only 35yrs I did'nt bother. Lifts to work & OH liked to drive anyway.
33yrs on & I worried about it. We did'nt live close to the City anymore. So I took lessons & road test & passed last year at aged 68yrs.

The lessons were very worthwhile. Gave me confidence & the amount of traffic had changed in all that time. Even some of the road rules.
So, take it as a challenge & go for it.
Paula

DDL

Hi Rodders,

I am so sorry that you have to start from scratch on this. It doesn't seem fair, but I suppose if, for example, if I were to let my American driving license expire (I think it's good until 2017 or something like that), the same thing would happen to me if I were to return to America to live. It would be annoying!

It's a good lesson for all of us to learn, though ... pay attention to expiration dates and then do whatever is necessary to renew. I'm assuming your licence could have been renewed by mail? (I think that's what Tony did when he was living in the States. He had his Mum and Dad take care of it from over here.)

Anyway, don't stress over it, Rodney. You will done just fine. Yes, I passed my Theory Test first time but I did quite a bit of study. You might not need as much, but I would highly recommend that you get the most current copy of The Highway Code and read it from front to back and remember everything because the test questions relate directly to the Highway Code.

The second part of the Theory Test - the Hazard Perception Test - is a bit more trickly. It consists of 14 video clips that put you 'behind the wheel' driving through a variety of settings: countryside, city centre, housing areas, etc. etc. It's almost like a video game: you have to click the mouse every time you see a potential hazard; then you have to click the mouse again as the hazard develops; then you have to click the mouse again when you actually have to take action to avoid the hazard.

Of course, you have no idea how well you are doing on the test until it's over. And the scoring is tricky - it's not as easy as clicking on a hazard. Even though there may be several hazards in each video clip, they are looking for a particular one and you won't score the requisite number of points if you don't identify the right one.



I passed my Theory Test the first time and it was indeed £31. I was issued a Pass Certificate and it is good for 2 years. You cannot book the Practical driving test until you have passed the Theory test.

I will be taking my Practical in June and it cost £62 because I am taking it on a weekday. Week-end rates are slightly higher.

The Practical test lasts 40 minutes. There is a short 'show me, tell me' where you will be asked a question like, for example, 'Show me where you would change the windscreen fluid' or some such thing. Then you take the driving test which, at some point, will include 10 minutes of what they call 'independent driving' where they will say, for example, 'Now I want you to follow the signs to Egham' and you are on your own with no instructions from the examiner. My instructor told me that they aren't testing whether or not you can follow directions per se, they are looking to see how will you handle driving without being prompted (by the instructor) of what to do.

You are allowed up to 15 minor faults on the test. A minor driving fault is any silly little mistake you commit during your test.

Everyone is different, Rodney, and a lot of expats on this forum feel very self-confident about returning home and driving even after being away for years and years and years, but here's what the AA says:

In the last 10 years, roads, signs, speed limits and the volume of traffic on UK roads have all changed dramatically. Driving lessons and the driving test have had to change to help new drivers cope with more potentially hazardous driving conditions.

For new drivers or those having to take the test, it's not enough to just know how to drive - it's knowing how to pass the test. The examiners are looking for very specific things - for example, the MSM routine, and the POM routine. All of us experienced drivers, for example, use our mirrors but in order to pass the test, there are absolute, certain ways that those mirrors must be used ... or it will be counted as a fault.

I have been really pleased with my AA instructor. He knows exactly what the driving examiner is going to be looking for and he instructs me accordingly. It's expensive, but that's what it's going to take in order to pass the test.

I'm not trying to scare you, Rodney, but the more you know the better equipped you will be.

The best thing you can do is invest in the most recent Highway Code or, even better, one with a DVD with samples of the hazard perception test (so you can get used to it) and mock tests. This is the one I used http://amzn.to/g846Lb and am still using. I think it's the best one out there.

Good luck to you Rodney!