Transferring Driving Licence
 

Hi,

Apologies if this has already been covered, I did search the forums but couldn't find an answer.

My question is, I'm aware that you can transfer your British Driving Licence to a State issued Licence. Does this process also include Heavy Good Vehicle entitlements? I have Category C1, C, C1E and CE on my Licence and really don't want to lose them! Any advice is much appreciated.

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

You cannot transfer your UK licence to a State one. You will need to take the written test and driving test here. Maybe NJ will waive the driving test but all others will require both.

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Oh, I had no idea I couldn't transfer it. That sucks, looks like I'll be losing some pretty valuable entitlements on my Licence then! Thanks for the advice.

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

NJ used to waive the practical driving test but no longer does.

My spouse had a New Jersey driving licence for 8 years (when we moved here in 2000 we only had to do the theory test as we produced our GB and Singapore driving licenses).

My spouse returned to Singapore and then Switzerland with his employer (giving up his Green Card).

Last year he relocated with his employer back to the NYC office and to our house in New Jersey. He pulled up his old NJ driving records from the DMV and had his old expired NJ licence to show to the staff at the DMV as well as his Swiss licence. Unfortunately after much discussion and speaking with managers at a couple of DMV offices he was still required to do both the theory and the practical test as the regulations were changed over the years.

It is far too easy to pass the practical test in NJ....it is all over in 10 minutes. I drove my spouse to the test centre and the examiner looked pleased that it was yet another 17 year old lol! In fact he was ex-military and was chatting with my spouse about his overseas postings and he forgot to tell him to take a couple of turns on the test route! :lol:

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Even if you could transfer your driving license there is no reciprocity for HGV to CDL certifications. Driving a commercial vehicle in the US is very different to driving in the UK.

I think there is only reciprocity with Canada for commercial vehicle licences

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Maybe you had heard that some other countries can swap basic driving licenses for a US license, I know that French licences can be swapped, and I think German ones can be.

That said, I sincerely doubt that any commercial licenses, with the possible exception of those issued in Canada, can be swapped.

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Some US states have so called reciprocity agreements with other countries. This means that if your driving permit has been issued in one of these countries, you will be able to simply exchange it for a US driving license of that state (and typically vice versa) without having to take any tests. At the time of writing in early 2014, such mutual exchange agreements existed for the following countries:

Canada (please note that regulations might vary for the different Canadian provinces)
France
Germany
South Korea

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Unless you are planning on continuing employment in the US as a trucker, then the loss of the classifications won't make a difference in your life. If you were to return to the UK, won't you once again be able to reclaim those classifications when you go for your new driver's license there?

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Unlike car licences, they expire if you don't use them. Like airline pilots commercial truck drivers need "hours" to keep their commercial licence valid. It is not uncommon for a driver who "comes off the road" to take a management position to negotiate the right to a few "runs" each year to keep his licence current.

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Interesting. How do you satisfy that condition when you apply for a renewed license? Are you required to bring employment documents with you? Or are their checkpoints where your truck is weighed (like on some roads here in the US) where your license is scanned into the system thus showing you were the driver. Do you have to prove that you operate a motorcycle regularly in order to continue to have that classification on your driver's license?

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

That's what I was told here in CO. The first lady at the desk told me I could just exchange my UK license for a new one. Two minutes the supervisor came over and told me that was only true for the above countries. :thumbdown:

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Trucks and other commercial vehicles in the UK and Europe have a "tachograph" which is a device that produces a circular graph of vehicle movements over a 24 hour period and it shows speed of the vehicle, distance traveled, and rest periods (zero speed), so can be used to track hours and to enforce rest periods and days. I drove a minibus with only 12 seats that had a tachograph, so no bigger than a modest size panel van, smaller than a Dodge Sprinter or a Ford E250.https://www.prodrivers.ie/wp-content...acho-chart.jpg

A commercial driver is required to keep his daily tachograph discs as evidence of his driving hours and driving without a disc, for example to illegally work on a required rest day, is treated as a serious offence.

Like a black box flight recorder on an aircraft, a tacho disc can be used in accident investigation. A driver at the company I worked for tipped over an artic (tractor-trailer) and stated he hadn't been doing more than 30mph in the road where he tipped over his truck. The tachograph was sent for analysis and the report said he was doing 12mph. (Not from the tacho data) apparently what had happened was that as he came around a 90° corner, just a few hundred feet from the warehouse where I worked, he had apparently clipped the curb and the load shifted enough to tip the 40ft trailer over, taking the tractor with it, .... and bending the chassis of the tractor that was only a few months old! :eek:

In fact a coach bus driver is prohibited from even being on his bus on a required rest day, so touring bus drivers must have their rest days either at home, or on a day when they don't have to travel. I knew bus drivers who, when staying at the destination hotel would perhaps want to take one of the local day trips on their required rest day, a day when the itinerary was specifically designer for one driver could do all the driving that day. The "resting" driver would not wear his uniform and mingle with the customers so as not to appear to be on his bus when he really wasn't supposed to be! :lol: .... So long as it wasn't a required rest day drivers would always wear their uniform as they could get free meals, and access to attractions or a drivers' lounge, among other things.

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

Thanks for the explanation. Again, interesting. :nod:

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

You're welcome. :)

Re: Transferring Driving Licence
 

And the modern transport company uses digital tachos, basically, a smart card which looks like a driving licence. Our transport department (last UK company I worked at) would read these cards once a week, and print a report if a driver drove too many hours.

The government inspectors would also turn up and do random checks on the database too.