Driving lessons - already have a licence in another country

honeyD

Hi,
Long story but when my Husband came to England from USA he was allowed to drive with his USA licence for 1 year. We werent aware of a time limit but after 1 year if you havent traded in your licence for a UK one you have to go through the whole process again for a UK licence. Really my question is, if anyone can help, how many driving lessons should he have since he can already drive and has done here for a year lol? Sounds silly to me but its the law!

Oldernotwiser

honeyD wrote: »

Hi,
Long story but when my Husband came to England from USA he was allowed to drive with his USA licence for 1 year. We werent aware of a time limit but after 1 year if you havent traded in your licence for a UK one you have to go through the whole process again for a UK licence. Really my question is, if anyone can help, how many driving lessons should he have since he can already drive and has done here for a year lol? Sounds silly to me but its the law!

Not sure if it's comparable but I learned to drive in an automatic and a couple of years later I decided to take my manual test. I needed half a dozen lessons before taking it so I wouldn't expect your husband to need any more than that.

angeltreats

Maybe book one assessment lesson to see what the instructor thinks and then block book however many lessons he reckons - you might be able to get a discount.

SimonJB

If he's a safe driver then it'll just be a matter of identifying and erradicating any bad habits he's (and the rest of us!) picked up since he passed his test.

I'd say 5 hours minimum, 10 hours maximum.

PasturesNew

There's a theory test -and- a driving test to pass.

vaio

honeyD wrote: »

......Sounds silly to me but its the law!

Yep and sillier still his US licence can be exchanged for a Canadian or Portuguese one (among others) which can then be exchanged for a UK one but for some reason the UK won’t exchange a US one direct.

unhappy_with_ecar

the other thing to note that as your husband now lives in the UK, not only does he need the UK driving licence, but after the first year his USA driving licence is not counted in this country and if he is stopped by the police he will be prosecuted for driving without a licence and then driving without insurance because his insurance will be void.

vaio

V

unhappy_with_ecar wrote: »

the other thing to note that as your husband now lives in the UK, not only does he need the UK driving licence, but after the first year his USA driving licence is not counted in this country and if he is stopped by the police he will be prosecuted for driving without a licence and then driving without insurance because his insurance will be void.

Not sure about that, my policy says “…holds or has held and is not disqualified from holding a driving licence….”

Wig

vaio wrote: »

Yep and sillier still his US licence can be exchanged for a Canadian or Portuguese one (among others) which can then be exchanged for a UK one but for some reason the UK won’t exchange a US one direct.

Maybe because they all get automatic gearbox licences over there. Do we have 'automatic only' licences in the UK? If we don't maybe that's why they won't exchange directly.

honeyD

unhappy_with_ecar wrote: »

the other thing to note that as your husband now lives in the UK, not only does he need the UK driving licence, but after the first year his USA driving licence is not counted in this country and if he is stopped by the police he will be prosecuted for driving without a licence and then driving without insurance because his insurance will be void.

Yes, which is why he doesnt drive anymore plus we dont own a car these days lol.
They will only exchange within the first year. Its just so confusing what with going through the whole visa process and most things you dont hear about like this driving licence thing so we never knew until it was too late. We did look once at getting him insurance in UK on his US licence and it was £800+ a month :eek:

vaio

[FONT=&quot]

Wig wrote: »

Maybe because they all get automatic gearbox licences over there. Do we have 'automatic only' licences in the UK? If we don't maybe that's why they won't exchange directly.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/DrivingInGbOnAForeignLicence/DG_4022562[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
says you can’t exchange a US licence to UK at all.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]But as I said erilier there are countries that will exchange US and which are accepted by UK so you can’t go US to UK but you can go US to Canada (or Portugal) to UK. Just seems silly to me.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Good point about auto only, the link above says…….[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Canadian licences[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If you are the holder of a Canadian licence you will receive automatic transmission only when exchanging for a British licence. This can only be upgraded to manual upon presentation of confirmation, from the relevant licensing authority, of a manual test being passed or a manual test is passed in this country.[/FONT]