Vehicle on French plates that has been in UK for ages
Discussion
Thanks for the replies. It looks like this is a bit complicated! Interesting too.
When I have been around the Braford area I see many cars on Lithuanian, Polish, Slovakian and even Bulgarian plates. I guess these guys are foreign nationals overe here working and nothing wrong with that. It looks like a grey area if they are over here on a long term basis though. I would not want to get into an insurance claim least not with them.
As re the French car I suspect they are just skint and trying to make ends meet. I cant help thinking that may be a false economy though if they get stopped and fined.
When I have been around the Braford area I see many cars on Lithuanian, Polish, Slovakian and even Bulgarian plates. I guess these guys are foreign nationals overe here working and nothing wrong with that. It looks like a grey area if they are over here on a long term basis though. I would not want to get into an insurance claim least not with them.
As re the French car I suspect they are just skint and trying to make ends meet. I cant help thinking that may be a false economy though if they get stopped and fined.
Edited by TUS373 on Thursday 10th July 13:01
A common lawyer said:
n the introduction, in bold:
A British resident must not drive a vehicle displaying foreign registration number plates in the UK.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_...
That said, I don't quite know what legal provision would prevent a British resident from returning home in an insurance-provided hire car after an accident in France. As with many bits of government leaflet, it may not be entirely accurate.
Back to OP -- if it's there more than six months in twelve, it should be re-registered. If it has been permanently imported/its registered keeper is resident, it should be re-registered immediately. Loads of brits drive around on brit plates abroad, which irritates some especially those who go to trouble of re-registering...).
Thanks for that. Great information. A British resident must not drive a vehicle displaying foreign registration number plates in the UK.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_...
That said, I don't quite know what legal provision would prevent a British resident from returning home in an insurance-provided hire car after an accident in France. As with many bits of government leaflet, it may not be entirely accurate.
Back to OP -- if it's there more than six months in twelve, it should be re-registered. If it has been permanently imported/its registered keeper is resident, it should be re-registered immediately. Loads of brits drive around on brit plates abroad, which irritates some especially those who go to trouble of re-registering...).
A common lawyer said:
n the introduction, in bold:
A British resident must not drive a vehicle displaying foreign registration number plates in the UK.
<snip>
Act and Section please , much as the HC is advisory and none -judicial interpretive i would suspect the same for the DVSA document cited .A British resident must not drive a vehicle displaying foreign registration number plates in the UK.
<snip>
Edited by mph1977 on Thursday 10th July 16:10
mph1977 said:
Act and Section please , much as the HC is advisory and none -judicial interptretive i wuold susocet the same for the DVSA document cited .
The DVLA document quoted above clearly states that a UK resident must not drive a car in the UK on foreign plates.However, there is an HMRC document which is directly at odds with this:
Temporary Admission - temporarily importing non-EU means of transport
HMRC Reference:Notice 308 (February 2012)
This document clearly permits UK residents to drive temporarily imported vehicles from outside the EU, subject to certain conditions. In fact I have been doing this recently as my good friend has temporarily a California registered car into the EU (the UK as place of importation) for 3 months and I have been driving in in accordance with HMRC Notice 308.
The total ban on driving foreign registered cars applies only to EU registered cars or permanently imported cars for outside the EU.
On the topic of road tax in France, it does not exist. You pay a one off fee upon registering a vehicle in your name and that's it for as long as you own the vehicle. Simple.
As stated before, it should have a CT (mot) sticker and a green insurance sticker in the windscreen, both of which show the expiry date.
Here are the stickers. CT old and new, plus insurance.
Hope that clears it up for you.
As stated before, it should have a CT (mot) sticker and a green insurance sticker in the windscreen, both of which show the expiry date.
Here are the stickers. CT old and new, plus insurance.
Hope that clears it up for you.
Cooperman said:
mph1977 said:
Act and Section please , much as the HC is advisory and none -judicial interptretive i wuold susocet the same for the DVSA document cited .
The DVLA document quoted above clearly states that a UK resident must not drive a car in the UK on foreign plates.However, there is an HMRC document which is directly at odds with this:
Temporary Admission - temporarily importing non-EU means of transport
HMRC Reference:Notice 308 (February 2012)
This document clearly permits UK residents to drive temporarily imported vehicles from outside the EU, subject to certain conditions. In fact I have been doing this recently as my good friend has temporarily a California registered car into the EU (the UK as place of importation) for 3 months and I have been driving in in accordance with HMRC Notice 308.
The total ban on driving foreign registered cars applies only to EU registered cars or permanently imported cars for outside the EU.
A common lawyer said:
n the introduction, in bold:
A British resident must not drive a vehicle displaying foreign registration number plates in the UK.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_...
However that PDF is specifically aimed at permanently importing a foreign registered car to the UK. In those circumstances if you are brining a foreign registered car to the UK permanently you can't drive it from the port on foreign plates.A British resident must not drive a vehicle displaying foreign registration number plates in the UK.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_...
That is a very different situation from (for example) a friend of mine who lives in France bringing his car over with him on holiday and allowing me to drive it while he is here. My insurance policy covers me third party for driving other cars (and before anyone jumps in, it does not need to be insured third party by the owner for my insurance to cover it. It depends on your policy wording and I have actually read my policy). There is nothing to prevent me from driving his foreign registered car.
kapiteinlangzaam said:
Mainland based European insurance is quite different from the UK.
I now have 3 cars on Dutch policies.
As std: any driver (with any experience) can drive any of them at any time to the same level of insurance as the main policy holder (me!).
Risk is not profiled on type of employment, where the car is parked, who the owner is (all those nasty little Qs you get on UK policies.
Cars are covered 365/365 (to the same level of insurance as domestic) in all EU countries. You do not need to notify your insurer of 'going abroad' and they dont care how long you stay there.
There arent even any punitive charges to change details on the policy.
Policy premium is mainly profiled on the new value of the car, so my MINI costs a reasonable €450 PA to insure, however my XC90 is €1k+ (compared to perhaps £500 in the UK).
Once you have been elsewhere you realise what a crock of s
t the UK insurance system is 
Whilst I can see the superficial attraction of not having to answer loads of nasty questions, worrying that every answer I give could lead to an increase in premium, the purpose of the nasty questions is to try and price my risk accurately. The insurance companies asking me the questions - at least those that want my business at all - are not asking them so that they can set my premium as high as possible, they are asking so they can get my premium as right as possible. I can't imagine that the price my car happened to be when it was new is a particularly strong indicator of how much money I'm likely to claim so I'd have thought using mainly that factor as you describe would lead to some very inaccurate pricing of risk. Another way of saying that is that careful drivers subsidise less careful drivers. Is that a good thing? Or is accurate pricing of risk simply not the objective for Dutch car insurers?I now have 3 cars on Dutch policies.
As std: any driver (with any experience) can drive any of them at any time to the same level of insurance as the main policy holder (me!).
Risk is not profiled on type of employment, where the car is parked, who the owner is (all those nasty little Qs you get on UK policies.
Cars are covered 365/365 (to the same level of insurance as domestic) in all EU countries. You do not need to notify your insurer of 'going abroad' and they dont care how long you stay there.
There arent even any punitive charges to change details on the policy.
Policy premium is mainly profiled on the new value of the car, so my MINI costs a reasonable €450 PA to insure, however my XC90 is €1k+ (compared to perhaps £500 in the UK).
Once you have been elsewhere you realise what a crock of s
t the UK insurance system is The whole thing is badly set up and a 'grey' area.
My son lives in France but works in the UK for between 5 & 8 months each year.
His car is registered in the UK at my home address as sometimes it is here for more than 6 months and other times it is in France for more than 6 months. Obviously he can't re-register it each time and to be required to do so would break the EU regulations on restriction of free movement of labour and business. The apparent regulations as stated by DVLA ignore the multi-national pattern of many peoples lives within the EU these days.
I recall a situation where a US serviceman, based in the UK for some time and living in the same village as me, allowed his new British wife to drive his Maryland, USA, registered car. She was arrested by UK police in N. London when she was not with her husband who was temporarily in the USA and HM Customs & Excise, as they were then known, became involved. The US Military then got involved along with the US Embassy and all charges were dropped. I don't know what the rules are now as this was about 20 years ago.
My son lives in France but works in the UK for between 5 & 8 months each year.
His car is registered in the UK at my home address as sometimes it is here for more than 6 months and other times it is in France for more than 6 months. Obviously he can't re-register it each time and to be required to do so would break the EU regulations on restriction of free movement of labour and business. The apparent regulations as stated by DVLA ignore the multi-national pattern of many peoples lives within the EU these days.
I recall a situation where a US serviceman, based in the UK for some time and living in the same village as me, allowed his new British wife to drive his Maryland, USA, registered car. She was arrested by UK police in N. London when she was not with her husband who was temporarily in the USA and HM Customs & Excise, as they were then known, became involved. The US Military then got involved along with the US Embassy and all charges were dropped. I don't know what the rules are now as this was about 20 years ago.
Nobody has asked the obvious question which follows on from that of the OP.
If a UK registered vehicle owner is required to do certain things and pay certain charges in order to keep the vehicle and use it on the roads quite legally with such activity being monitored automatically by anpr and various databases, then what monitoring is applied to Ladislav/Jean-Pierre from wherever in his foreign registered vehicle.
Simply down to enough cops on the streets with enough time on their hands to make a stop?
Isn't there a problem here? I'm sure some do get stopped especially at the snotter end of the spectrum. But one has to wonder when seeing a right hand drive drop sided Transit being driven around on French plates for example. Not that I am accusing our itinerant metal trading community of any dodgy activities you understand but even so. I would have thought that, like the snotter, this should be a prime target for a pull, but reasonably recent MB or VAG products that look to be in decent nick and driven normally, how often do they get a tug?
If a UK registered vehicle owner is required to do certain things and pay certain charges in order to keep the vehicle and use it on the roads quite legally with such activity being monitored automatically by anpr and various databases, then what monitoring is applied to Ladislav/Jean-Pierre from wherever in his foreign registered vehicle.
Simply down to enough cops on the streets with enough time on their hands to make a stop?
Isn't there a problem here? I'm sure some do get stopped especially at the snotter end of the spectrum. But one has to wonder when seeing a right hand drive drop sided Transit being driven around on French plates for example. Not that I am accusing our itinerant metal trading community of any dodgy activities you understand but even so. I would have thought that, like the snotter, this should be a prime target for a pull, but reasonably recent MB or VAG products that look to be in decent nick and driven normally, how often do they get a tug?
Yup. Pretty much my question really. UK enforcement of VED is done by ANPR so very clear cut. But how are foreign registered cars Policed and where is the line getting crossed between genuine circumstances and someone evading VED? From what I glean in the thread the HMRC are quite clear but it looks like there are tons of potentially legitimate exceptions so a policing nightmare.
Mr2Mike said:
AngryPartsBloke said:
TUS373 said:
we pay our VED to use our roads?
No we don't." i pay my road tax " is usual cry of the frother / daily mail reader / kipper / mouth breather whenever foeign registered vehicles or pedstrian / cyclist / equestrian topics come up ...
except VED isn;t 'road tax' and if said foreign plated vehicle driver / pedstrian / cyclist / equestrian is paying income tax, VAT , fuel duty etc etc etc ...
The government is being urged to clamp down on untaxed foreign vehicles after the RAC warned they were costing the UK millions of pounds a year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28260599
About bloody time.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28260599
About bloody time.
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