JDR Thats what I would have expected too.

Sorry JDR but I must be using the search facility wrongly. Can you point me at just one post where the issue of Spanish D/L holders could not drive a UK plated car in Spain.

I quite understand the issue of matriculation and this has been discussed to death but I can't recall the issue of driving licences ever coming up in this way before.

I can`t remember the threads now and I ain`t trawling through all of them, but just going on UK insurance where the drivers are insured not the car like in Spain.
A lot of the policies revert to third party only for the policy holder and named drivers while out of the UK on holiday.

Have a look HERE
"EU citizens who are not Spanish residents may drive their foreign-registered vehicles (cars, motorbikes and caravans) in Spain for up to 180 days (six months) in a calendar year as long as it is road-worthy in the country in which it is registered. In this case, only the owner of the vehicle may drive it."

The DL debate goes on and on and......
There is no doubt that no one has a definitive answer to this one.
I am resident here with a UK license which is registered with trafico ( it has my NIE printed on it), so there you have another aspect.
As it is clear the police have even less idea what the law is, it's no wonder everyone is confused.
I think most of the confusion comes from having to register as a "resident" for certain things and actually being a "resident".
This is Spain after all and I do what the spanish do and make it up as I go along

This is the contents part of a letter to The British Consul in Malaga dated October 2004 re using an E.U. D/L in Spain. from Ministero del Interior, Direcciòn General de Trafico

A copy of the original, with the addresses, official stamps etc can be found at :- http://www.spainvia.com