New driving licence rules from 19 January

[Janet]

yep, that's about the level of most of the questions I get! 

[Guanche]

I've got a question for you Diane.
If I've had a Spanish driving licence for 25 years . . . and last English one was a bit of green paper. Can I just call DVLC and say I lost it and get a new English one?

Ah! Diane, went right over my head!

[Janet]

it went over mine at first too ... then it was explained to me ..... 

[Perikles]

Ah! Diane, went right over my head!

[Janet]

  

just cos you got it right away .... 

[Perikles]

 

just cos you got it right away .... 

Only because I thought that not even Prof could be that stupid 

[Janet]

There are now too many reports to dismiss that Tráfico in Santa Cruz is refusing to accept medicals and to inscribe them, instead demanding that UK licences are exchanged for Spanish ones. Needless to say from what I've posted previously, they cannot do this – but they are. The law is utterly clear, this is not required ... but faced with that sort of intransigence, what can one do? This is like the time the Las Américas police were insisting that Registros had to be renewed, despite clear instructions from Madrid and the EU that they did not. That was a fight undertaken and won, and was worth undertaking because the Registro never needs renewing!! The consolation this time is that when a UK photocard licence expires it has to be renewed in Spain anyway, so this is just bringing forward something that would be inevitable at the point it would genuinely need to be renewed. JA

[Nova]

Worth the trouble in my opinion, since the Spanish driving licence doubles as an ID card and complies with UK law about the address.  Win-win!  And there's no problem driving with a Spanish licence in the UK.