International driving permits

[raesewell]

For anyone with Bennet's bike insurance you can just let them know if you are going abroad and they will send you a IDL free of charge 21 days before you depart.

As will Bikesure.

[Gerontious]

If you are visiting France this is the official French advice if it helps

https://mobile.interieur.gouv.fr/Actualites/Le-ministere-de-l-Interieur-se-prepare-au-Brexit/Permis-de-conduire

You can always cut and paste it into google translate if your French isn’t that good

 

So.. just to make this simple. you only need to take two sentences from the French Government.

1. With withdrawal agreement. If you are a tourist in France, you can drive for the duration of your stay with your driver's license obtained by examination in the UK.

2. No withdrawal agreement. If you are a tourist in France, you can drive for the duration of your stay with your driver's license obtained by examination in the UK.

[M620]

If you are visiting France this is the official French advice if it helps

https://mobile.interieur.gouv.fr/Actualites/Le-ministere-de-l-Interieur-se-prepare-au-Brexit/Permis-de-conduire

You can always cut and paste it into google translate if your French isn’t that good

 

So.. just to make this simple. you only need to take two sentences from the French Government.

1. With withdrawal agreement. If you are a tourist in France, you can drive for the duration of your stay with your driver's license obtained by examination in the UK.

2. No withdrawal agreement. If you are a tourist in France, you can drive for the duration of your stay with your driver's license obtained by examination in the UK.

 

At the risk of being pedantic you missed the last, and possibly important sentence in the French government advice,

“If you are a tourist in France, you can drive for the duration of your stay with your driving license obtained by examination in the United Kingdom. International driving license is not required if you have a translation of your driver's license”

[manxie49]

Going to Verbier in Switzerland in September so will be doing the exact same thing, for the cost of a few quid it gives peace of mind, especially knowing how intolerant the Swiss police are

[Gerontious]

At the risk of being pedantic you missed the last, and possibly important sentence in the French government advice,

“If you are a tourist in France, you can drive for the duration of your stay with your driving license obtained by examination in the United Kingdom. International driving license is not required if you have a translation of your driver's license”

 

I left it out as its irrelevant. The UK and French driving license cards are Identical. if a french policeman can understand a french card. then he can also understand a UK one as they are exactly the same aside from a few words. English: Driving License. French: Permis de Conduire.

The Categories are identical. Even the Name and address are.. with each line numbered. so there can be no confusion about meaning.

The only UK drivers who would need an IDP are those holdouts that do not have a card, just the old paper counterpart. Because to a French policeman that is going to be meaningless. And I suppose that it is those people who that final line is aimed at. Not those with the EU standard Modern photocard.

Edited April 2, 2019 by Gerontious

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Glad I paid the 5.50 and don’t have to think about it again until they finally if ever make up their tiny minds on what’s we will be doing

[Gerontious]

Glad I paid the 5.50 and don’t have to think about it again until they finally if ever make up their tiny minds on what’s we will be doing

 

Ten Days.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Glad I paid the 5.50 and don’t have to think about it again until they finally if ever make up their tiny minds on what’s we will be doing

 

Ten Days.

 

Fingers crossed.

[gogs01]

I just looked out the IDP I got last year for my trip to Bulgaria. It's still valid, so that's a plus.

What I can't see is which version it is - aren't there different versions demanded by different countries ?

[Gerontious]

I just looked out the IDP I got last year for my trip to Bulgaria. It's still valid, so that's a plus.

What I can't see is which version it is - aren't there different versions demanded by different countries ?

 

The IDP you bought for your journey to Bulgaria is the same required (or not) for every EU state aside from Malta, Spain or Cyprus

you will have a 1968. for those others you need a 1949

The main effect will be that there may come a time when you will need two if you intend to ride to Spain via France.

[gogs01]

The IDP you bought for your journey to Bulgaria is the same required (or not) for every EU state aside from Malta, Spain or Cyprus

you will have a 1968. for those others you need a 1949

The main effect will be that there may come a time when you will need two if you intend to ride to Spain via France.

 

I can't see any reference to 1968 or 1949 on my IDP, only DL96 on the front and OS161(01/18) on the back. I do remember that the PO clerk asked where I would be going, but when I started through the list of countries, she asked what my destination was. I could have been going via Spain .....

The only place I've ever been asked for my licence was Ukraine, and the fact that there's a page in Russian in the IDP probably helped.

[Gerontious]

The dates are the years international treaties became part of the Geneva convention and there are 3 of them. 3 because some countries haven't ratified the latest one and so still require the 1949, a few countries still use the one from 1926 ie Brazil.

However it could quite easily be the case that we have IDPs that cover all of these. so.. for a real international traveller.. one document covers all 3 treaties. At one time these were issued by either the RAC or the AA and sold via post offices and I think the DL96 was the RAC one and the DL94 the AA. I would assume that the numbers relate to the year 1994/96 and as these signifiers no longer exist on the .gov website, perhaps they have changed again especially with the run up to Brexit where its possible these might be required for all UK drivers leaving for the EU and beyond. Its also the case that the latest 1968 was updated in 2011 once the new categories appeared. A and A1 for instance.

probably will need updating again with the advent of the A2 license. but these things seem to take a very long time.

[gogs01]

Since I've got a current IDP I'm going to pack it with the rest of my documents in May.

However, as I understand the Brexit fiasco, not much will have changed since last year by then.

[benny23]

Kiwis dont really care!

[gogs01]

Kiwis dont really care!

 

Americans are quite happy with the UK licence too.

[Marino]

Don’t think you need it in the Eu

https://www.rentalcars.com/en/guides/licence-paperwork/international-driving-permit-uk-licence/

[Marino]

https://www.gov.uk/driving-abroad/international-driving-permit

[dynax]

Don’t think you need it in the Eu

https://www.rentalcars.com/en/guides/licence-paperwork/international-driving-permit-uk-licence/

 

But all this will change post brexit

[Marino]

Don’t think you need it in the Eu

https://www.rentalcars.com/en/guides/licence-paperwork/international-driving-permit-uk-licence/

 

But all this will change post brexit

 

Remain to see in 2021, probably will not be required but we will see

[Marino]

Anyway I got Croatian driving licence as well

[S-Westerly]

Don't see why it should change unless the EU is just being arsey. You don't need an IDP in the US, Canada, Norway, Malaysia or South Africa. I've driven in them without needing anything other than my UK license. The only place I needed an IDP was South Korea.