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I have a friend visiting from China soon and i wonder if any one knows if a Full China driving license is valid in the Uk or will they need to take a UK test ? Thanks for any replies
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Having had Chinese pupils in the past who already held a licence from their own country, I can safely tell you that it will not be valid and a UK test will be required.
However, if the visit is for less than one year they can obtain an international licence and drive on that.
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Section 2 Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) Order 1975
outlines the entitlement of drivers living outside UK to drive here under a Domestic Driving Permit issued in a country outside UK, for 12 months from last date of entry to UK (nip across to France for the day return and 12 months can start again unless one falls foul of residency aspect).
Under the Order "Domestic Driving Permit" means a document issued under the law of that country to a person who has given proof of his competence to drive and authorising the holder to drive vehicles of a specified class in that country.
There is no mention that a Chinese Licence is debarred from this, but do you have to pass a Driving Test in China? If not, then the Licence, it would appear does not cover.
How BiB and others can tell if a piece of paper is produced whether it is a Licence or a Menu from a eating establishment, I will not comment on.
Consider sending an EMail to DVLA (see their site elsewhere). If they agree with the above, retain their reply to ward off any problems that may ne encounterd in interpretation of the Order.
DVD
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" (nip across to France for the day return and 12 months can start again unless one falls foul of residency aspect)."
The DVLA has said that this is not allowable. Your 12 months starts from the day you become resident, not the last day you entered the country. Of course how the police could know when you first became resident is another matter. Even if they asked to see your passport it would only show the last date of entry not your date of first residency
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Thank you all for this information, its strange that although they passed a test in China its not valid in this country permantly but o.k. for less than a year as an international licence. Is there any logic here?
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On my trips to the UK over many years I have rented cars using domestic licences from Bahrain, Hong Kong, Saudi, Iran, the Philippines without any problems whatsoever.
Provided it's a visit it's OK.
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Provided it's a visit it's OK.
Friend of mine was involved in an accident up in Leicester. Mitsubishi Pajero jumped a red light and turned across the front of him. The other driver was an young Iraqi woman in her 20's, not long arrived in the UK; not visiting, but moved here to live. She only had an Iraqi licence (written in Arabic). My friend checked with police but found it to be true that for the first year they do not need a UK licence. After one year they must take a test.
I find this remarkable, given that UK road conditions must be a lot different from Iraq. Moreover a lot of miles can be covered in one year....
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If you were to sit next to some of the holders of foreign licences - especially from the Middle East and Africa - you would wonder what on earth the testing system consisted of in those countries, let alone how the holder had actually managed to stay alive for more than a week.
I did read once that the test in one African country (Can't remember which) consisted of pushing Dinky toys round a mat and demonstrating that you knew which lines to stop at.
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It could have been on here that I read it or one of my mates may have told me but anyway, I heard (unconfirmed of course) that you could get a licence in a country which is very easy to get a licence such as Saudi Arabia and then go to Germany which accepts that licence. You then (apparently) have a German Licence as they accept the Saudi one and then come to Britain who accept the German licence.
Sounds far fetched but it;s interesting...
Adam
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Not far-fetched at all. I can't speak for exchanging a Saudi licence for a German one but I simply bought my Saudi licence in Jeddah (of course I could drive already but you get the point) and then exchanged it for a Bahraini one (GCC countries accept each other's licences) then drove on that for years and used it regularly on visits to Britain to keep my UK one pristine.
With the company I worked for all our drivers were hired from overseas with valid licences but it took so long to get local residence permits (needed before you could get a local licence) that we simply bought them from the traffic police.
Slightly OT but an amusing recollection. A local haulage company in Riyadh that I knew hired 25 Filipino tractor-trailer drivers sight unseeen (big mistake) from a Manila recruiting agency. They all arrived with brand new shiny truck-drivers' licences yet none had actually driven anything at all, let alone a semi-trailer!
In the Philippines if you take your girlfriend to the LTO, let her make come-on chat with the supervisor, give him money for his lunch and perhaps a "consideration" you can buy your licence without the inconvenience of having to take a test, or if you want to be slightly more legal there are chaps who will take the test for you (for a fee of course). If the cops catch you for something and take your licence off you, you just go to any street corner notary public, and as long as you have a photocopy of the old one, swear an affidavit of loss, go to the LTO and get a new licence. So much more convenient than attending the stupid traffic re-orientation course for a day in a non-airconditioned shed, and then you have to pay the fine to get the old licence back and so on and so forth..........
In Iran they even accept their own Int'l Licences for in-country driving (or did). I simply sent my admin lady down to the local equivalent of the AA with two photos, a photocopy of my passport and entry stamp and she came back with one. This was accepted by car rental companies in UK, US and Spain without demur.
Thus it is perfectly possible to get a licence by any of these means and use it to drive in UK. I'm surprised you get a year's grace though. Most countries I've been in allow you just 90 days as a bona fide visitor, then you must get a local licence. But of course if you are working there and make "visa trips" (a) because you're on business, or (b) to avoid having to apply for a work permit, then no worries.
Why bother with an expensive, time-consuming and difficult UK driving test? (tic).
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Afterthought: I think the 1949 Geneva Traffic Convention governs the exchangeability of licences across countries who signed up to it (that's most).
If I am wrong DVD will doubtless be along in a minute........
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Trancer - Yep correct but originally subject matter was for visitors. Unfortunately just what defines a visitor/resident is not as far as I can see in the Regs.
Taking up residency then Domestic Licence OK for a year during which time you can apply for UK Provisional Licence and take test as after the year UK LIcence required. During the year only time as the holder of a Prov Licence, providing your Domestic L is current, then No L plates and can drive unaccompanied. Until midnight of the last day of that year when as holder of PL conditions apply.
DVD
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DVD,
Are you sure about that?
I was under the impression that once you had obtained a provisional licence in this country, all other licences - international etc - were no longer valid and the full conditions of a provisional had to be adhered to.
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Tom
Don't trust me - only the experts.
From DVLA DL site:
Residents
Ordinary licence holders
Provided your full licence remains valid, you can drive any category of small vehicle shown on your licence for up to 12 months from the time you became resident. To ensure continuous driving entitlement a provisional GB licence must have been obtained and a driving test(s) passed before the 12 month period elapses. If you obtain a provisional licence during this period, you are not subject to provisional licence conditions e.g. displaying `L' plates or being supervised by a qualified driver or being precluded from motorways.
However, if you do not pass a test within the 12 month concessionary period you will not be allowed to drive as a full licence holder and provisional licence conditions will apply.
If you do not apply for a provisional licence within the first 12 months you must stop driving and obtain a British provisional licence with a view to passing a driving test. Provisional licence conditions will then apply.
..... Like you I was on the impression that it was an offence to hold two Licences but from the above seems not. Seems to make sense as to prove the exemption then one must produce a Domsetic DL covering use in the first place ojtterwise a great loophole for the Chavs?
DVD.
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Just make sure he doesn't drop his china driving licence on a hard floor - it might shatter :)
Roger in Spain
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Roger:
I do believe you've been giving the San Mig a bit of a nudge. Do you have a Spanish licence?
I kept all my old licenses from all my travels (often better described as travails) and poking around in my files find I have 11 of them. I especially love my first Saudi one, which is a nice macho shade of pink and has my black and white photo clipped on to it with just one staple! It is naturally in Arabic, but with my name and details in English typed on an Olympia typewriter with an error in my birthdate corrected over Tipp-Ex!
And yet, that was accepted with no problem by Avis in 1981 when I rented a Renault Fuego (how many remember them?) for my second marriage, which promptly broke down on the A23 from LGW. What I mean to say is the car broke down. The marriage took a bit longer.
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Get nine of them on EBay G. Your holding onto a fortune?
DVD
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sure , he need make a uk test
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We have a number of "students" of chinese extraction coming here, and also have the 12-month rule for foreign licences. A couple of years ago, there was a lot of trouble with such drivers, so the A.A. investigated. They reported that, in China, ALL instruction was undertaken on test tracks, and the first time that a driver actually met real live traffic was AFTER receiving his full licence. It showed !
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