Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 10:26am
I have lived here now for 26 years, if you have a UK driving licence you could keep that until it expired, I did until I was 70. But after Brexit I doubt that now. But if you go to the traffic police in Gerona (DGT) they will exchange you UK licence for that of a Spanish one. But first they give you a cover note and then you have to take their driving test, which you will see it is a joke. From L'Escala you best go to the driving centre in Torroella, they all speak English. First they take your photo and this is put onto the official form that they will give you at the end of the test to take back to the DGT. You will get an eye test with or without glasses and a hearing test with or without hearing aids, you will be asked what medication you are taking. Then you go to another little room, here you are asked questions like do you fall asleep when waiting at traffic lights? have you ever had an accident? To that one I replied I have been driving something since1960 and I have never had an accident and in this country that's a bloody miracle, to which he nodded. Then the joke, you sit in front of a screen which has 4 parallel bars and a small horizontal bar in each. As the machine moves the line go to the left and to the right, apart and together. If the horizontal bar hits the parallel the machine makes a noise, as I was doing this test after a while I got bored and I made it bleep. I asked have I failed" the man said no I was just seeing how fast it would go before you crashed. I asked "How fast" he replied 280 kilometres an hour. To which I said I have only got a Skoda. Several friends said they made it bleep several times but that still passed. Now with your piece of paper you go back to the DGT pay the fees and get an appointment for you to get your new Spanish licence which will only last 5 years also 90% of what was on your UK licence will be removed. Let me know how you got on. I also lived in L' Escala for about 10 years.