UK Drivers License

1kiwi

1kiwi

1kiwi

Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2007
Posts
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Location
Los Angeles
Hi guys,

A random one i know :D I come from New Zealand and currently hold a full NZ drivers license and was recently informed that i would be able to swap my full license for a full UK license.

Can anyone confirm this? Who do i need to get in contact with?

I have been in the country for about 17 months now and feel that it's time to get a full UK license.

NB: I only need it every now and again as i don't actually own or need a car.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
beh* said:
I have been in the country for about 17 months now and feel that it's time to get a full UK license.
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It's more than a good idea - it's a legal requirement. It is currently illegal for you to drive in the UK on your foreign license. You can only do this for up to 12 months. Effectively, you now dont have a driving license valid in this country and you cannot drive.

You must apply for a UK license - and because you've been here more than 12 months you cant use your foreign license to enable you to continue driving before you swap, either.
 
Last edited:
Majago said:
Looks like you still have to take a test but get special entitlement whilst on a provisional UK license. Link.
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Not for NZ:

"Great Britain has reciprocal exchange agreements with Gibraltar and 15 designated countries. The designated countries are:

Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands*, Hong Kong, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea*, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and Zimbabwe.

If you are a visitor in GB, and hold full ordinary entitlement, you can drive any category of vehicle, up to 3.5 tonnes and with up to eight passenger seats, shown on your licence for up to 12 months from the date you last entered GB, whether or not you brought the vehicle into GB. If you also hold full entitlement to drive large lorries or buses you are only allowed to drive large vehicles registered outside the GB that you have driven into the country.

If you are resident in GB and provided your full licence remains valid, you can drive small vehicles for 12 months from the time you became resident. To ensure continuous driving entitlement a GB licence must be obtained before this period elapses, by exchanging your licence for a GB one. If you do not do this you must stop driving although you may apply to exchange your licence at any time within five years of becoming resident.

*Motorcycle entitlement from the Republic of Korea and Faroe Islands is not exchangeable".
 
If your still driving on the NZ license then your driving illegally. You can only drive for a year. You can however exchange your license for a full one within 5 years of living here (as long as its a full).
 
[TW]Fox;12690687 said:
It's more than a good idea - it's a legal requirement. It is currently illegal for you to drive in the UK on your foreign license. You can only do this for up to 12 months. Effectively, you now dont have a driving license valid in this country and you cannot drive.

You must apply for a UK license - and because you've been here more than 12 months you cant use your foreign license to enable you to continue driving before you swap, either.
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only crime is getting caught ;)

How often does the average OCUK member get stopped. I've been stopped once in 18 years on the road.
 
I had a full South African licence that I swapped with no problems. Be aware that they will take away your NZ licence and you will need to do this process again if you move back to NZ.
 
Oxlde said:
I had a full South African licence that I swapped with no problems. Be aware that they will take away your NZ licence and you will need to do this process again if you move back to NZ.
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Yeh - i think there is an easy way around that :)
 
I'm in Australia at the moment waiting for a visa application but plan to swap my licence when I return to the UK. Probably going to report my Tasmanian one lost so I've got a spare and don't have to go through the same crap again if/when I return to Australia. This may or may not be a little bit dodgy :)
 
"If you are a visitor in GB, and hold full ordinary entitlement, you can drive any category of vehicle, up to 3.5 tonnes and with up to eight passenger seats, shown on your licence for up to 12 months from the date you last entered GB"

Does that mean you could, say, go to France for a day, come back, and the 12 months resets?
 
[TW]Fox;12691303 said:
But this wont cover his own car and the insurer can also sue him to recover the cost of meeting the claim.
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Yeah but that's the OPs problem, not a potential victim of his driving, so why get worked up about it? :)
 
Hello All,

I know this is an old thread but rather than start a new one...

I applied for provisional entitlement to drive a mini bus last year. I got the provisional D1 without any problems.

I lost my counterpart a few months ago, so I applied for a new one and sent back my old plastic license as required.

I have just got out my new plastic license and counterpart as I am going for minibus driving lessons next week.

I am wondering why my counterpart says D1 on it (as well as categories A, BE and GH), but my plastic license only gives categories B, B1 and fklnp? I don’t know if it was like this before, but why doesn’t my plastic license also say D1?

Thanks in advance,

ADy88s
 
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