I lost (or had stolen) my wallet two nights ago .
Anyway the photo id part of my driving licence was one of the items in the wallet. It was due to expire in November anyway so I was going to have to sort out a new licence sometime soon so this sort of forces my hand.

I no longer have a UK address so it's kind of awkward for me. Anyway just wondering what my best options are if any of you clever people have any idea what I should do.

You must be able to select a UK address somehow (friend/relative)? Report your licence as lost to the DVLA. Say you lost the licence whilst in the process of moving your belongings to this new address. The new licence will be sent to your nominated address and they can send it on to you.

When I exchanged my UK licence for a Spanish one a mistake was made in the categories I was entitled too.
I no longer had the UK licence has it had been handed over as part of the procedure, therefore I contacted DVLA who issued me with a form D737 to a non UK address which listed all my entitlements. This was accepted in Spain and my Spanish licence amended.

I do not know if they will accept the D737 in the a total absence of your licence though.

I may have misinterpreted the original posting. I thought it was a lost/stolen UK licence.

You didn't misnterpret. It is a lost UK licence. I've updated thread title to make it clear it's a UK licence.

Guess this is what I'll have to do. Thanks.

If you are not resident in the UK the only legal solution is to apply for a Spanish licence.

In the absence of your original UK licence you can apply to the DVLA for a "Certificate of entitlement" for £5 and then use it to apply for a Spanish licence. You will need to provide photos and a medical.

+1

Thanks for the infos - will it make any difference whether I have a UK or Spanish licence for example costs of hiring a car etc?

I don't think it makes a difference to the price of car hire(don't hold me to that) but I've changed mine to a Spanish one as I was having no end of trouble hiring cars in the UK as the car hire companies at the airport would not give me a car as their computers showed that I was not resident at the address on my UK licence, the only way to get the car was for them to phone DVLA and then pass the phone to me to verbally authorise the DVLA to confirm my licence details to the car hire company, although it's a pain it was ok unless you arrive on the weekend then they can't phone Swansea and then refuse to give a car Much easier with the Spanish one

A friend of mine has just gone through a case being sued as he lives in Spain and its really simple law (that went against him), unless you are a resident of another country, i.e. have residency then you are always still a UK resident of N.F.A. The same would apply for this, you just need an address to have the licence delivered too.

If you are resident in Spain then clearly you are not a resident of the UK.

When you apply for a replacement licence they require details of where you have lived for the last 3 years.

Of course you can lie, in which case you are breaking the law.

The DVLA have access to HMRC and DWP data so it would be easy for them to check.

Yes I agree you have to be one or the other but living in Spain you can be non resident, if you are not legal in Spain you will always be a UK Resident for both civil and criminal law, this is how it was explained to my friend, he has lived there for 8 years, but is now back in UK fighting this case against him, had he become legal in Spain he would not now have this problem

I am not sure legally it would constitute a lie, as there would be some term or rule in place for this situation.

I have just read my UK licence,
Section 5. Changes to Name, Permanent address and Health.
You must notify the DVLA of any change in your permanent UK address.
The license both parts must be returned to the DVLA.

The important bit
FAILURE TO NOTIFY ANY CHANGES AS DESCRIBED ABOVE IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE AND PUNISHABLE BY A FINE UP TO £1000.

There will probably be thousands of expats with no UK address still holding UK licenses.
Good money for the DVLA if it wanted to check up, but then they would not have an adress to send the fine to.

If you are permanently residing in another country then you are not resident in the UK. Of course people can tell porkies all they like, but when you sign the forms for the DVLA you are stating in that form that you are a permanent UK resident. To sign it as a UK resident when you are not would be a misdeclaration

Also, if he had lived in Spain for 8 years then he was a tax resident in Spain ... not the UK, so thats another point against him presumably

So ... the only way you can (as Fred said) apply for a replacement licence, or even change the address on your licence, is by being a UK permanent resident