I, like a number of British expats in Mallorca, many of an age, but not all, am stuck in a quandary over my driving licence. Yes. Many of you can say it’s my fault for not having sorted it our earlier, but I got caught in the TIE trap and thought that the same extension windows applied, so focussed on getting my TIE card which I have to say has been a blessing in disguise. I no longer have to use my passport to travel around Europe not to mention print off proof that I am a resident in order to obtain my travel discount. I’m in the system and it works, thanks to the Spanish.
However, I am going nuts trying to exchange my paper driving licence, which the DVLA in the UK has assured me is not only still valid in Spain but everywhere else in the world, and I am not alone. There is one elderly expat who has told me she is having sleepless nights and that the whole frustrating process is taking a toll on her mental health because in Palma the DGT is refusing to accept paper driving licences on the grounds that, firstly, they have not been instructed to and, secondly, the online confirmation code document downloaded from the DVLA website does not provide all the required information about the driving licence.
I have been to the DGT with mountains of paperwork on three occasions now but I’m getting nowhere. And what is even more frustrating, the British Embassy in Madrid is proving no help at all. The response to my last email was a copy of the agreement between Spain and the UK, well you can imagine what the DGT told me to do with that. All I and many others in my position are asking for are solutions, practical answers which will put us out of our misery, but it appears the FCO has more pressing issues.