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JohnJ Junior Member Member # 1344	Posted January 13, 2003 08:48 AM My wife is still awaiting the return of her Passport from Croydon after applying for her years FLR. She is allowed to drive for one year in the UK on her current driving licence before taking a test, but does this year start after we get her Passport back and then apply for her provisional UK licence or is the clock already ticking? Should we be trying for a return of the Passport (I read this is possiable) as they have had it for over four months already?
Thorsten von Thyssen Member Member # 4397	Posted January 13, 2003 11:07 AM The one year period is counted from the last arrival to the UK. However, the court has ruled (Flores case) that that the period starts when a person becomes resident in the UK. -------------------- ----------------------------------- ...cut the bullshit please...
marka Member Member # 1907	Posted January 13, 2003 12:28 PM TNAVON, What does becoming resident mean? Entering the UK on a visa leading to settlement? Cheers, Mark
Thorsten von Thyssen Member Member # 4397	Posted January 13, 2003 04:03 PM This is what happened in Flores v' Scott (High Court Judgement): 1. A mexican student (with a 5 years visa to pursue his studies - not leading to settlement) was driving a car without a UK driving licence. 2. When caught by the police he showed is mexican (international) licence. 3. The police argued that he first arrived to the UK more than a year ago and therefore his mexican licence cannot assist him. 4. The student argued that during the last year he had left the UK and returned back. So the one year period should start from his last arrival. 5. The Court ruled that: a. To drive in the UK with an international driving licence the driver should be no more than temporarily resident in the UK. b.since the student came to the UK for a long period, he was considered to be a UK resident (not temporarily) from the first day he arrived to the UK to pursue his studies. c. The court disregarded his overseas excursions. d. The student was therefore driving a vehicle illegally . -------------------- ----------------------------------- ...cut the bullshit please...
Joseph Member Member # 184	Posted January 13, 2003 06:11 PM Travnon, Interesting! In practice, it's possible to avoid getting into trouble, if stopped by police, by just showing your international and your home country driver licenses and say you recently arrived, because they rarely ask to see the passport. It's illegal but you might "escape." The big problem has to do with insurance. The insurance companies have no problem whatsoever issuing and renewing policies to "residents" staying more than one year without a UK license. They will gladly take your money, no questions asked. If you are in an accident, however, they will carefully check whether you are legal (the fine print in the policy requires it) and if you are not, they will not pay the claim. Then you are screwed 4 times: 1.you lose the claim, 2.you will have wasted the premium on invalid insurance, 3.you will be convicted for driving without a valid licence, and 4.you will be convicted for driving without insurance. Advice: Better to get a UK license, although I suspect that many foreign people are driving without one. Joseph
JohnJ Junior Member Member # 1344	Posted January 13, 2003 07:50 PM Thanks for the interesting information. I am still puzzled by one thing, at what point do you become resident? In our case my wife entered the country on a fiancee visa and we then went somewhere hot to get married . On our return in September we submitted our passports and relevant documents to Croydon who still have the documents. We are told by Croydon that while they have the documents my wife remains on her fiancee visa. Given the situation would we be correct in assuming that she is not yet classed as “resident” in this country?
Joseph Member Member # 184	Posted January 14, 2003 12:41 AM JohnJ No, because now that you have gotten married and have formally applied for Leave to Remain on a long term basis, your wife is now basically staying on a permanent basis, even though the application may take some time to approve. For example, if it took 12 months to approve from now, your wife effectively can't leave the country for more than a year because they have her passport. So I would say that you should count the 12 months starting in September when you came back after the marriage. Your wife can't get the passport back without withdrawing her application. However IND do have a provision to provide her with the necessary documentation to get a driver license, see the attached link: http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/default.asp?pageid=115 If the immigration application is going to take a lot of time, you may wish to get what's needed from IND to apply for the provisional license (and the theory and driving tests) sooner rather than later. Joseph
marka Member Member # 1907	Posted January 15, 2003 11:03 AM On the same subject. Has anyone with a non-EU driving license gotten a UK one? If so can you recommend a driving school that can give a few short lessons in driving on the left. I don't need the full course, just a few hours should be enough to get the hang of it. Also I presume the driving school can provide a car to take the test in. I don't plan to buy a car in the UK for now, but I would like to have a valid driving license. Cheers, Mark
WorldCitizen Member Member # 1527	Posted January 16, 2003 08:43 PM Marka, I did trade-in my Canadian licence for the UK one with no problems. I cannot recommend a driving school as I didn't bother to use one. I just read up on the different signage. It's no big deal once you get used to it. AA driving schools are nationwide and considered to be quite good. WC