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Original poster

This is a bit niche - renewing UK drivers licence

50 replies

Archduke · 08/03/2017 23:37

Hi there

I have lost my plastic bit of my UK drivers licence so I need to get a replacement. I went through this UK Gov site but unless I'm being thick it has no option for o/s residents to renew their licence.

It asked for me to put in a UK address, so I put in a family members, but I'm pretty sure this is against the rules.

Has any one done this? What was the solution?

OP posts:
greatpumpkin · 08/03/2017 23:46

I think technically you're not allowed to have a UK drivers licence if you don't live in the UK.

Do you need it? Do you have a local license where you live? Or do you drive on your UK license?

BertieBotts · 08/03/2017 23:48

You're supposed to exchange it for a local one in the place where you're living anyway.

DH still uses his parents' address on his.

BertieBotts · 08/03/2017 23:50

Are you in the EU? UK driving licences are valid in the EU indefinitely, but you're supposed to replace it with a local one if you lose it or it expires. You can do this just by proving you have a UK one allegedly. I have not tried this.

BertieBotts · 08/03/2017 23:51

europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/vehicles/driving-licence/driving-licence-loss-theft-replacement/index_en.htm

If outside the EU, you're normally required to exchange your licence for a local one within around 6 months of moving.

NightWanderer · 08/03/2017 23:54

Mine's registered to my parent's addresss. I have a local one too.

FinnegansCake · 08/03/2017 23:54

I think it should be ok with a family member's address, I doubt they check if you really live there.

At least you haven't done what my DS did - while in the U.K. for a few days he decided to renew his licence, but put his foreign address on the form. They kept his licence and told him he couldn't have it back unless he became resident in the U.K. again. He explained he needed to show it in order to get a licence issued in the EU country he was living in, but they refused Shock

Fortunately he had a photocopy of his licence, which was accepted by his new country of residence, and they gave him a local licence, so he didn't have to repass a test.

Fingers crossed you get yours renewed without any problem. Make a photocopy or two, and don't tell them you're living abroad!

BertieBotts · 08/03/2017 23:55

To clarify - I was wrong initially. It's okay to have been driving on your UK licence if you're living in another EU country, you can keep the UK licence indefinitely. But if it's been lost then you need to replace it with a local one rather than a UK one.

(Sorry for hundreds of posts!)

BertieBotts · 08/03/2017 23:56

Oh yeah, they don't check - DH applied for photocard renewal last year IIRC. But technically it's fraud to use someone else's address even if it's a family member.

NightWanderer · 08/03/2017 23:57

They didn't exchange mine. Just checked it and gave me one for the country Im now living in, so I have 2, a British one and a local one.

Original poster
Archduke · 09/03/2017 00:19

Thanks, I'm in Australia so def non-EU Grin. I do have a local licence, but wanted to renew my UK one as I couldn't drive my parents car last time I was over there.

OP posts:
Original poster
Archduke · 09/03/2017 00:20

So does that mean I can't renew my UK one???

OP posts:
toffeeboffin · 09/03/2017 00:29

You can renew it, I live in Canada and just renewed my UK license for the same reason as you.

Let me find you the link.

toffeeboffin · 09/03/2017 00:35

www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence

As pps have said, you can renew it but not as a forriner.

You complete the form online, they then mail the info to the UK address provided. You then sign it and mail it back, then they send you your plastic licence.

So you physically need to be in the UK to sign it unless you get someone else to sign it for you

Note that they don't bother with the green bit anymore.

Original poster
Archduke · 09/03/2017 00:45

Thanks toffeeboffin - that's the form that I used - but it says you need to be resident in the UK. Did you give them a UK address? It also says that it's a criminal offence (eek) to provide incorrect information ie to give an address that I'm not permanently living at . . .

OP posts:
Kuriusoranj · 09/03/2017 01:04

I checked with the DVLA when my photocard came up for renewal. You need your UK address - yours, not a friend or relative. Using someone else's address is fraud and crucially it may be used to invalidate your insurance. Driving without a valid license = driving without insurance = bad stuff if you have an accident etc. Sucks, but there it is. I can inly go by what the DVLA actually told me.

MakeItStopNeville · 09/03/2017 01:12

I used my parents' address and did it that way. Theoretically I was supposed to hand it over when I got my US license but they never asked for it.

MakeItStopNeville · 09/03/2017 01:14

Although I never actually use it as I use my US license even in the UK. It just seemed easier to keep it up to date were we ever to return permanently.

JessieMcJessie · 09/03/2017 01:15

Yep, I lived in Hong Kong for several years and was unable to renew my UK licence while not UK resident. My DH just used his parents' address for his but I am a lawyer and committing fraud would have got me struck off so too big a risk. I got a Hong Kong licence simply by presenting my UK one to the HK DVLA equivalent and used that to drive hire cars when visiting the UK (I never once drove in HK in 6 years!). It was a pain as I could no longer be added to family car cover when visiting as insurers would not accept an additional driver with a non- U.K. address.

On returning to the UK permanently I renewed the licence no problem.

JessieMcJessie · 09/03/2017 01:17

toffeeboffin did you use someone else's UK address?

SofiaAmes · 09/03/2017 01:22

I lived in the UK for 7 years, but was told that because I was not a permanent resident (intending to return to USA) and traveled in and out frequently, that I did not need to get a UK driver license. I was insured by my US auto insurance company and they didn't seem to care as long as I had a license from somewhere (California, in my case). It was all quite confusing and I couldn't seem to find any clarity by looking up the rules. I was never stopped by the police in the UK, so never had to test out the theory.

Original poster
Archduke · 09/03/2017 01:24

Bollocks so it sounds like I can't renew without committing fraud

Kuriusoranj that's exactly it, I can't drive my parents car on a non-uk licence so would need to hire one which is $$$$. Arse.

OP posts:
Kuriusoranj · 09/03/2017 01:51

Yep, it's really annoying for car shares, I agree. I'm the same as PP, I don't drive in my country of residence so my foreign license is pretty much only used to hire a car when I'm home in the UK. Bottom line though is, that's the rules and you choose your own level of risk when you decide if you'll break them. I won't and I don't actually think other people should either, but luckily for all of us I'm in charge of zilch.

JessieMcJessie · 09/03/2017 08:00

archduke even if your licence had not expired you'd be unlikely to get insurance to drive your parents' car as most insurers will require you to be UK resident for that. If you have their address then both you and they would be committing fraud and, while it might not be checked at the time of having you added as an additional driver, it would come out as part of the fact checking if you were to have an accident and most likely invalidate the cover.

On the bright side car hire may not be as expensive as you think if you book it in advance- the market is pretty competitive these days.

BertieBotts · 09/03/2017 12:34

The UK and Australia have a reciprocal agreement so you will have to exchange it for an aussie one, I know with an aussie licence in the EU you have 6 months to change it. May be worth checking that up.

BertieBotts · 09/03/2017 12:36

Gah I cant type on this tbread. Reciprocal agreement means you can do a straight swap, no idea whether there's a time limit, but there is the other way around.

Otoh, they don't check the address.

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