I wonder if it might be possible to get her a licence anyway. I wouldn't know what a PI DL looked like if you poked me in the eye with it, but I wonder if it might be passed off as a replacement licence (to explain the date of issue being after Melody got residence in Spain) and then exchanged for a Spanish Licence.
When we came to Spain in 2006 they did not exchange Philippine's D/L's. When they started doing so, my wife's DL had expired, so next visit to Phil she renewed it. When we applied for the exchange we had to show that she had the DL before coming to Spain. The dates on the renewed licence showed the date it had been first issued i.e. before she came to Spain. No problem with Trafico. Just for those who may be interested. In Spain, unlike UK, one can only learn to drive with a driving school.
And then the language barrier becomes a second problem. She will have to learn the Spanish conjugation of verbs and how to drive a car with one arm hanging out of the window (which is apparently done so as to keep the arm from inadvertently flicking on the indicator).
Hi folks Still waiting on Kris's (@inaroiles ) settlement visa (VFS was 9 March so hopefully soon!) Anyway - I would like to know if Kris will be able to apply for a UK provisional driving license whilst on settlement visa? She's never driven before (apart from on a scooter) and I would like her to take lessons asap so we could get her a wee runaround once she's passed her test. Thanks, Gerry
I've read somewhere that you can only get a provisional driving license if you have been in the UK for more than 6 months. You need to be ordinarily resident in the UK, and being here for 6 months is their definition of it. Since fiance visa is only for 6 months she might not get one until after the FLR(M).
Thanks both Brom and John...the DVLA response on the linked site confirms that the visa must be valid for over 180 days. So, it looks like we're stuffed until FLR (m). Gerry
You cannot apply for a provisional driving licence if under fiancée visa so better secure FLR first. The application process is easy, only around 2-3 weeks.
You have to be on a visa longer than 6 months. My wife got one on her FLR and passed her driving test last week so is now awaiting a full one.
Is driving easy? When I look at my partner it seems really really easy. But he keeps telling me it's not, there's more to it than meets the eye. He said you need to focus all the time and need to be alert. You need to have a good judgment as well. I'm not sure if he's discouraging me or just plainly telling the truth
Driving is easy once confidence and experience is gained, its a natural process but you need concentration or accidents happen. I was a motorcyclist for 10 years before driving a car so picked it up almost instantly.
'Is driving easy?' - Yes - once you have enough experience. Will you find it easy to pass the UK driving test? No. But that shouldn't stop you from learning.
Is driving easy, Yes, a child can do it. Is driving safely easy, Not until you have developed your skills and experience.
what do driving lessons cost these days ? i taught a few folks to drive--back in the day when any fully licenced driver could.
Reminds me of the first "driving lesson" that I gave my wife. First time she had sat in the driving seat of a car, in this case my Landrover Discovery. Having given her the basic instructions, lift off the brake pedal and gradually press the accelerator pedal, we are all set. I, in the front passenger seat, eased the transmission into D and told her, off you go, which we did at quite a rate of knots. The only problem being that I had slipped the transmission into R not D, so off we speed backwards...!!!! Luckily we were in the desert and the only issue was scraping past some thorn bushes. "Brake luvvy", "luvvy brake", "now luvvy ease off the accelerator and brake"..... "BRAKE luvvy"...... phew!! Luckily it didn't put her off and now she is a really good driver.
yes driving is easy otherwise people would struggle to update their facebook,text friends,put on their makeup, eat breakfast or and read whilst driving.
Driving requires very high level cognitive function, at first There are many simultaneous streams of information that have to be processed at the same time, you have to be reading street signs, looking behind the cars parked either side of the street in front of you to tell if anyone is likely to suddenly walk out into the road, determining if you are too close to the car in front to actually stop if they get into trouble for any reason, you need to know where you are going so you are processing a mental map of the locale that will hopefully get you where you want to go, you have to be aware of your relationship to all the other road users around you so that what you do next will not upset or hurt another road user. It's heavy duty stuff Glenn you are responsible not only for your life and your passengers but for the life of everyone else around you, simply because you are driving a machine of considerable mass at a considerable velocity. I'm just back from a short break in Spain and for the first time in about ten years I had to drive on the wrong side of the road, last time was back in the Philippines but I seemed to cope over there, this time I was very nervous as I have never driven in Spain and I had a lot of passengers, but the real test was the four kilometres that I had drive on my own to get back to the end point that all the guys would eventually arrive at (it was an open sea swim and I was getting them from A to B). That four kilometres was quite scary and I felt like a learner, I was in a UK car in Spain on the wrong side of the car (for Spain) and the wrong side of the road, plus a large argument between me and Mrs Sat-Nav who wanted me to drive down single track roads and round the wrong side of a river to get back to where I needed to be, but I made it in a short space of time and was much relieved. It depends who you are but I find even just driving a car that I am not familiar with challenging, I have driven automatics and manuals, vans and sports cars and they all deserve their own respect as they all handle differently. Driving is not easy but it does eventually become automatic however you should always keep in mind that once it becomes easy you need to be even more careful.
