Provisional Licence and moving to the UK.

wingnut

Just wondering if anyone has an answer for this one. My girlfriend and I are moving to the UK soon. She is on a provisional here, which I'm sure is not recognised in the UK. Fair enough, but to apply for a provisional licence in the UK you must have been resident there for at least a year. (or 185 days out of it). If she applies for a test here it will be the best part of a year coming up. Its a catch 22!

I'm sure there must be some way to work around this, has anyone done so?

seamus

Are you sure she has to have lived there, or perhaps she just has to "declare" that's she's resident there (i.e. that she will spend 185 days there).

Other than trying to get a quick test here, there's no way around it.

pbergin

I think she can, just has to get someone authorised to sign her documentatin to say she is actually resident there (kinda like a court official)

dubstub

Just get a letter done up on an official looking company letter-head stating that company X is moving her to the UK and she will be required to do some driving. The job opportunity is entirely dependent on her possessing a full, clean drivers license. Send that to the driving test centre. You'll get a test in 4-12 weeks.
I went from having no licence at all to being a fully licenced driver in 10 weeks using this (I had been driving for years previously, on provisionals and in other countries, I just had no valid provisional at the time).

wingnut

DVLA wrote:

Drivers who have moved to the UK having been permanently resident in another state of the EC/EEA must normally have been resident in the UK for a 185 days in the 12 months prior to the application for a driving test and a full licence.

We are moving in a few weeks and she's only started driving so I doubt she will be ready for the test in time. This is horsecrap, basically means if you move to the UK without a full licence you have to wait to a year before you can drive!!!! This is certainly not the case here, I see loads of people who have just moved here out getting lessons etc.

I have rang the DVLA (put on hold for an age) waiting for an email back (they say they will try to respond in three working days.

Alun

Hang on a bit, in that text you quoted it says you have to have been resident for at least 185 days before applying for a test, not applying for and getting a provisional licence, so assuming she's capable of learning within 6 months which most people should if they take regular lessons, she could be up and running well within a year given the test waiting times over there.

whippet

As far as I can make out, she is on a provisional, she hasn't sat a test (or even applied for one) so she has no divine right to be entitled to drive. The issue of the long waiting times for irish tests are well publicised and have been for years, most right-minded people apply as early as possible and will be prepared for the test when it finally comes around.

Just because the UK enforcement may be stricter does not mean you are being hard done by. Irish people get up in arms about non-nationals arriving in ireland and driving without full licenses, why should Irish people be entitled to do the same when travelling abroad.

In the UK she will be able to drive a VRT-less car with less road tax and cheaper insurance when she passes the required test.

seamus

Alun wrote:

Hang on a bit, in that text you quoted it says you have to have been resident for at least 185 days before applying for a test, not applying for and getting a provisional licence, so assuming she's capable of learning within 6 months which most people should if they take regular lessons, she could be up and running well within a year given the test waiting times over there.

Yeah, it doesn't look like you need to have proof of residency to apply for a provisional in the UK, you just have to be resident.

Remember that driving unaccompanied in the UK is a big no-no. The traffic police in the UK are plentiful, eager and uncompromising. If she gets caught unsupervised, she'll be screwed (because she'll be driving uninsured).

Alun

seamus wrote:

Remember that driving unaccompanied in the UK is a big no-no. The traffic police in the UK are plentiful, eager and uncompromising. If she gets caught unsupervised, she'll be screwed (because she'll be driving uninsured).

Second that, and if you're sharing a car in which she's learning to drive, don't even think of driving it yourself on your own with the L plates displayed.

Also the driving school 'industry' over there is far more mature than it is here, and is at least properly regulated, with many driving instructors being IAM qualified as well, so if she chooses to go for professional lessons she'll be in good hands.