driving license help needed
 

hi all,

my OH is Gibraltarian, we are looking to buy a Spanish plated car, can he drive it without problems on a Gibraltar driving license?

thanks
Em

Re: driving license help needed
 

Quote:
[B]If you are a Spanish resident, no.
Except in special circumstances. Example taking it for a test drive, picking up someone from the airport when the owner can't drive for some reason, but in general the answer is as Valenciatim said, NO

That would also apply to anyone if they are Resident even if they have a foreign DL.

I copied the above from a duplicate post by Emma

Re: driving license help needed
 

errrr - no

the other question was not as on this thread

Re: driving license help needed
 

Hi,

Sorry the post wasn't an exact duplicate....

The first asks if he can drive a Spanish car with a Gib license...

The second asks if I can drive a Gib car with a Spanish license.....

I thought that differnet people may know the different answers, hence why 2 posts!

As a couple that are thinking of downsizing to 1 car (as the OH also has a bike that he regularly drives to work in Gib) it is difficult trying to work out what would be legal for both of us to drive!

Re: driving license help needed
 

I suspect the answer is pretty much the same to both though

do I remember rightly that you have a spanish driving license?

if so, then no, if you're resident in Spain you can't long-term drive a car plated anywhere else

I have no idea though about Gib nationals/residents though driving Spanish plated cars in Spain - is that more or less the same as British?

Re: driving license help needed
 

It's all soooo confusing!

Looks like we won't be able to share a car afterall!

Re: driving license help needed
 

does he live in Spain too?

could he not just swap his license?

Re: driving license help needed
 

Sorry Emma for my error re the two posts, But the answer was effectively the same.

If a person is resident in Spain (in normal circumstances) they cannot drive a foreign registered car in Spain. The kind of licence is not relevant to that.

If you OH is resident he too cannot drive a Gib plated car here.

A non resident I am sure can drive a Spanish car on a Gib Licence, just like say a Brit or a German here on holiday. A resident can drive a Spanish car on a UK licence too.

Not really confusing, just inconvenient if one is trying to circumnavigation the law.

Re: driving license help needed
 

I wish it were that simple...

I am a full Spanish resident, so it seems that I am not allowed to drive his Gib car....

He is a policeman in Gib so has to be very careful and law-abiding! We live in spain together as he just needed an NIE to buy his house here, but is a full Gib national...So all-in-all he cannot swap his licence for a Spanish one......

So it looks like the new car will have to be Gib plates (he is buying it so I can't argue).... and then at least he is legal....

I just will have to drive the old heap whilst he has the sparkling new car
:(

Re: driving license help needed
 

It is that simple. He can drive his car in Spain. You cannot. If wee able to swap his DL it would alter the situation as it is now.

Re: driving license help needed
 

I've had a thought...

If the new car he were to buy was on Spanish plates...
The car would be in his name....
It is not his main mode of transport as he has his bike...
Can he therefore drive it on his Gib licence?
In the same way as people who are from the UK that have a holiday home here and a holiday car, drive their Spanish holiday car with their UK licence...

Would that work?

Also if he were to swap his Gib licence for a Spanish one....is he then totally legal? Spanish car, Spanish licence, NIE number, homeowner but Gib national?

Ps. My head hurts

Re: driving license help needed
 

that's what I've been wondering


ask a policeman;)


you really want to drive the shiny new one, don't you

Re: driving license help needed
 

Yes I really really want to drive the shiny new one :rofl:

Can you imagine how horrible it would be, a 2010 beauty next to my 1994 heap and I'm not allowed to drive it!

I need to ask a Spanish policeman...
May start phoning around Insuarance companies on Monday as well, see if they can help....and get my OH to phone trafico...

Re: driving license help needed
 

As the song say, 'By Jove, I think she's got it'

He does not need to change his licence. AS a visitor to Spain I am pretty sure he can drive a Spanish reg car. But as someone said, to be absolutely sure get him to ask the Guardia. (at the border maybe)

Re: driving license help needed
 

but he lives in Spain................

Re: driving license help needed
 

That's a grey area I think as the laws says 'permanently in Spain for 3 months' or for a 'total of 183 in a year.' As he works in Gib then I wonder how that would be interpreted ? I guess it apples to many people who live in Spain and work in Gib.

Does anybody know.

Re: driving license help needed
 

what about 'commuters' between the UK & Spain?

do they in that case add up their days?

I'm not talking tax - I know that's different

Re: driving license help needed
 

I guess if they are in Spain for whole days then the days can be added up, and if they reach 183 in a year then they are probably resident for Spanish tax purposes.

That's what happens in UK and, as of fairly recently, I believe the Inland Revenue (HM Revenue and Customs) include the days of arrival and departure.

Re: driving license help needed
 

he kinda lives in Spain & Gib depends who's asking....
as he only needed an NIE number to buy in Spain that's all he has.....apart from that everything is Gib, Gib national, Gib resident, Gib worker, Gib licence, Gib taxes, Gib heathcare etc etc, he still has an address in Gib.....

It is this grey area that I was wondering if we can use with the Spanish plated car....
as he could be using the house as the odd weekend retreat??

:blink:

Re: driving license help needed
 

Well if he is a pretend Gib resident you will have to ask a real Gib policeman if Gibraltarians are allowed to drive foreign cars, if they follow the British rules then he will have to re register it to Gib plates.

Re: driving license help needed
 

???? he is a policeman, but Gib police know about their own laws not Spanish law!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know whether you are trying to be funny or just havn't bothered to read the thread properly!

We still cannot figure out if he can drive a Spanish plated car in Spain with his Gib licence!

Re: driving license help needed
 

I said I'm NOT talking tax - more curious about the driving issue & at what point you would be considered resident for that

I know quite a few people whose OHs live & work in the UK but spend 2 - 4 days a week here in Spain + holidays so could well inadvertently tip over the 183 days

Re: driving license help needed
 

Oh no, I have read both threads. ;);)
Well then it`s not rocket science, if he is a Gib policeman he must know if it`s allowed for a Gib resident to own and drive a Spanish car.
As I said, in most countries they do not allow their residents to own and drive foreign cars, end of story.
Now is he going to be a Gib resident or a Spanish one, or is he going to sit on the fence and try and dodge the law in both countries ?

Re: driving license help needed
 

Sorry I was trying to address your question. It would seem logical that where there is a question of residence that the law on tax residency would at least have a bearing.

As for your hypothetical question about UK workers spending 2 or 4 days a weeks in Spain: if it's 4 days they would spend 208 days here and be tax resident, if 3 days 156 the not tax resident, except that I believe their where their permanent home is, comes into it.

However, there are also regulations which relate to cross border workers, that apply to say French workers working in a town just across the border in Spain. For that one would need sufficient interest to research those regulations. A start might be at :

http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/nav/e.../index_en.html

Re: driving license help needed
 

Emma, I am sure this situation applies to many people thus I cannot believe that your friend cannot obtain the answers in a government dept in Gib. As I am sure he speaks fluent Spanish, there must too be Spanish sources of info available at the end of a phone.

I don't want to rock the boat between you, but I am beginning to wondering if he has a 'personal' reason for not finding the answers.

Re: driving license help needed
 

interesting - clear as mud - but interesting

thinking aloud here so bear with me................

doesn't answer the question of if you are registered as resident in the UK (and maintaining a home/residence) while working there & paying tax etc there while financially supporting your wife & family (for instance)who live in Spain - visiting them on a more or less weekly basis

this seems to say that country of residence is not necessarily where you spend most of your time - it can be where you go once a week

I suppose if you only visit 'home' once a week you'd need somewhere to live in the country in which you work, so what if you 'clock up' so many days there that you have register as 'resident':confused:

I guess it's a case where you really do need to get expert advice

Re: driving license help needed
 

Lynnxa, Once again I apologise for not being able to answer your question but I did say,I was trying to address your question

I did not say I was giving you an authoritative answer and I tried not to give you that impression.

For a complete, legal answer, I suggest you need to go to a professional in that area and pay their consultation fee.

PS I see where my typos may have confused you, This is how it should have read:-

As for your hypothetical question about UK workers spending 2 or 4 days a weeks in Spain:

If it's 4 days they would spend 208 days here and thus be tax resident,
if 3 days then 156 here thus not tax resident,
except, I believe, the country in which their permanent home is located, comes into the decision in 'unusual cases.'

Re: driving license help needed
 

I wasn't actually expect you to know the answer - just thinking aloud, as I said, wondering if it might help someone else or maybe someone else would know the answer

And I actually don't need to know

Re: driving license help needed
 

I am sure all those who spend their time trying to help, as they believe when a person asks a question they need/want help, will like to know you were just passing the time here.

May I suggest if you do that again you tell us so we can decide whether to 'waste' our time trying to help you unnecessarily.

Re: driving license help needed
 

it is an interesting link & I have actually bookmarked it just in case - thank you

the point of these forums is to all help each other - it's open for anyone to use advice they see - or for them to ignore it

I was thinking aloud - & said as much in my post - sometimes people just 'batting around' with a question can help a lot of people, or point them in the right direction

I'm sorry if you think you wasted your time - I might not need the advice right now - but I'm sure someone reading this thread now or at some future date will find it useful

Re: driving license help needed
 

Sorry .... have you become a moderator over night?
You are referring to a long time poster here who has been very helpful over the many years she has been here ....... have a bit of thought!! :blink:

Re: driving license help needed
 

:rofl::rofl: :thumbsup:

Re: driving license help needed
 

that's OK - I can do the maths - I wasn't confused by you



nice edit btw;)

Re: driving license help needed
 

Madrid and Mitzy boys, and Lynnax, sorry I misunderstood, I thought this forum was open to everybody and anyone who was able to provide something useful was welcome. It seems I may have been wrong, and that it's a bit of an 'Old Boys Club' where ganging-up to be unpleasant to new members is acceptable, at least to some.

I have no wish to become a moderator, but I should appreciative his/her/their comment on whether being impolite is acceptable behaviour and within the forum's guidelines.

Re: driving license help needed
 

Lynnax, Thought interesting - clear as mud - but interesting meant you had not understood, apparently I was wrong, yet again, but if it did not I cannot imagine what it meant. !

Re: driving license help needed
 

no, the information on the site was clear as mud - lots of conflicting info - typical government type stuff

as I said though - surely some of it will be useful to some people

Re: driving license help needed
 

As usual, I must be missing something here cos it all sounds a bit iffy.:confused:

Re: driving license help needed
 

Please don't blame me for the web site, although I have been through it before and believe I understood what it meant, but at that time I had a need to know.

Re: driving license help needed
 

I wasn't blaming you

can we leave it now?

Re: driving license help needed
 

No it isnt acceptable behaviour, which is why I pulled you up on it.
If you want to discuss moderation further then pm me, or if you are unhappy with moderation then report it to the site adminstrators
Thank you