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I can't renew my British driving licence from HK, how annoying is this?

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  1. #1

    I can't renew my British driving licence from HK, how annoying is this?

    Hi everyone,

    I recently discovered that I lost my paper version of my UK driving licence, which is a massive pain it the arse. I have tried to renew it from HK, but the DVLA wrote back saying no way, no can do, because I am no longer a UK resident.

    I am hoping to drive a hire car in the UK in November and I know the companies like Hertz need to see the card and the paper version. I just called the British Consulate and they said yeah, basically, you're stuffed, you can' t renew it from here as you are no longer UK resident.

    How annoying????

    Is my only chance to pretend that I still live in the UK, and use my parents address as my contact? Maybe that will work.....any ideas greatly appreciated....


  2. #2

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    How about doing the HK driving test and getting a HK license (and then an international license)?
    Otherwise, I don't know what they would ask for in the UK as proof of address...?

    Last edited by Satay Sue; 07-07-2011 at 03:43 PM.

  3. #3

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    You've given the answer yourself: you are no longer a UK resident, and UK driving licenses are only for UK residents. You can hire a car perfectly well with an HK license (even if they do look like amateur fake IDs).

    Were you to lie and use your parents' address... I'm sure it would work fine, until you got into any trouble (bit of a bump, speeding ticket, etc.) at which point someone might discover that you're driving on an invalid license - at which point I'd expect the shit to hit the fan.

    Do what Susan of Satay says - convert to a HK license. I had lost my paper part before converting mine, and it had expired - just had to contact the DVLA, who produced a letter saying my license had been valid until it expired, and the HK authorities accepted that.

    emmie likes this.

  4. #4

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    I think the problem is that a driving license can be used as a form of id, or proof of address. If the OP is not actually living at that address then maybe they'd see it as kind of fraudulent, no? I can understand the frustration though, if only she hadn't told them she was living overseas they could have issued a replacement.


  5. #5

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    I have to agree with DeletedUser on this, my licence has an old address. I would use my mum's address (but I still have 16 years left on the current one).


  6. #6

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    Original Post Deleted
    Agree here - get parents/relatives in the UK to pick up the relevant form to send to you in HK; you fill it in (with UK address) and send it back to them with whatever else is required, then they forward the stuff to DVLA. When your license arrives at their doorstep, they'll pop it in another envelope to mail to you via registered post. Good luck.

  7. #7

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    Original Post Deleted
    They might in the UK. I was just trying to show how the DVLA might see it. My paper license is a mess, Mr SS's went through the washing machine so it is in fragments! Somehow we managed to convert them in Japan and Singapore. Here we converted using our Singapore licenses.

  8. #8

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    I have my UK driving licence and all of my UK banking registered at my parents address, even though I haven't lived in the UK for 11 years. I think it is fine. The bank knows that I live abroad but that is my correspondence address. Nothing fraudulent about it as far as I understand. I renewed my driving licence from HK (i.e. posted from HK) but they will only send it to my UK address (parents address).


  9. #9

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    As I said, I was just trying to explain how the DVLA would see it, not accusing anyone of fraud


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Liquorice:
    I have my UK driving licence and all of my UK banking registered at my parents address, even though I haven't lived in the UK for 11 years. I think it is fine. The bank knows that I live abroad but that is my correspondence address. Nothing fraudulent about it as far as I understand. I renewed my driving licence from HK (i.e. posted from HK) but they will only send it to my UK address (parents address).
    My bank have my parents' address, and they're aware that it's a correspondence address since I've emigrated - which they're perfectly happy with.

    If you are not a UK resident, you are not entitled to a UK driving license - that's a fact. It's not something which is particularly enforced, either by the UK authorities or the HK ones, but AFAIK your UK license is officially only valid for use in HK for a year anyway...

    Converting a full UK license to a HK license is pretty quick and easy, although not particularly cheap at $900, and you should have very little problem anywhere in the world renting with a HK license. You don't need to do a test - or at least I didn't, a few years ago - just give them your UK license, fill out the forms, pay the fee, go back a week later to collect it. What's the big deal?

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