mikelincs

Costa Blanca news leads with the fact that the police in the UK, Northamptonshire in particular are clamping down on Spanish (and other foreign registered) cars in the UK, they are taking numbers, logging them, then checking when or if they have been seen before, if they were seen over 6 months before, then they are impounding them, and YOU have to prove that the car hasn't been in the country all that time. One man was able to show a ticket that proved his car was in a car park at Alicante airport over Christmas, so he got his car back, but has been warned NOT to use his car again until he is going back to Dover as he may well be stopped and his car impounded again. As we have said to people diving UK cars here in Spain, you must keep your ferry/tunnel ticket to prove when you brought it in. If you have a registered UK address, then you are NOT allowed to drive a Spanish car in the UK, unless you can show it is going through the process of re registration, and you only have 14 DAYS in which to do this.

Econ

I understood it was OK to have a UK address as long as you where registered as a non resident with the British consulate, in other words as long as you where listed as a non resident with the UK authorities it was OK to drive a Non UK registered car, once listed as a UK resident you are not allowed to drive a Spanish registered ......... or have things changed!

mikelincs

Lots of people over here have kept UK addresses, and they then may have to prove they are not a resident of the UK, which may be a problem as many are still claiming benefits over there, such as child allowance. Just means that you should be very careful, and keep all that documentation to show that the car isn't normally in the UK, same as if you come over to Spain regularly, ensure that you have the ferry ticket, including the one that gives a return date if possible, seems that the UK authorities are doing what the Spanish do, impound and then YOU have to prove that you are within the law.

Mitzyboy

Ahh the value of having a residents certificate, ITV etc

Econ

I have taken Spanish registered cars to the UK many times over the last lot of years, I have been stopped several times for various reasons by the Police 'road checks and speeding (forgot it wasn't Spain! and 2 MPH OTL counts as speeding in the UK!)' and never been asked to prove anything (British with a distinct British accent) , generally after showing my driving license and car papers to Police they would look at the papers 'that are in Spanish, cars have been registered in my name, my fathers or my companies name', ask the relationship of the car papers name to me if not in my name, make a radio check and then set me on my way.
I am not saying what you have said is wrong as it is always better to be safe than sorry but then I registered as a non resident with the British consulate when I took out my residencia here, maybe this is where the issue lies. I.e. if you haven't done this and are driving a Spanish car then they have no record of your status change.

rugbymatt

Oh god, its going to start again isn't it?

mikelincs

Even better if we had residencia cards still! much easier to carry around than the certificate. But I bet there are thousands of people in Spain, with residencias, who are still getting benefits from the UK, which is why there is a benefit fraud hotline for Spain now.

livit

There is only so many times you can show a donkey the water.