Driving a Foreign Vehicle on UK Soil

[TooMany2cvs]

SantaBarbara said:

IT can be very difficult these days for mr Plod

Well, he has only had 95 years to figure that distinction out...

[cafcfan]

TooMany2cvs said:

Ireland is "foreign" - unless you mean Northern Ireland, which is the UK.

This isn't terribly difficult.

I was once allocated a hire car in NI by a well-known rental company that was on Republic plates. It wasn't terribly helpful because of the kph speedo.

[Greenmantle]

Just to bring this back on track.
I am not talking about the vehicle being illegal.All taxes are paid in the country that it is registered in.

All I am saying is that if I register this said vehicle in an EU country of my choice then why cant I drive it exclusively in this country. There is no policing of well known HGV company to make sure that foreign registered vehicles are NOT spending all of its time here in Blighty.

If by registering my vehicle abroad I save a few pennies then I am happy.
Obviously if another consequence of my actions was to avoid certain tickets because the enforcement mechanism cannot be arsed to make sure they have communication with each and every DVLA organisation in the EU then so be it.

[SantaBarbara]

Greenmantle said:

Just to bring this back on track.
I am not talking about the vehicle being illegal.All taxes are paid in the country that it is registered in.

All I am saying is that if I register this said vehicle in an EU country of my choice then why cant I drive it exclusively in this country. There is no policing of well known HGV company to make sure that foreign registered vehicles are NOT spending all of its time here in Blighty.

If by registering my vehicle abroad I save a few pennies then I am happy.
Obviously if another consequence of my actions was to avoid certain tickets because the enforcement mechanism cannot be arsed to make sure they have communication with each and every DVLA organisation in the EU then so be it.

You may be surprised to know just how many small special registration systems there were in operation

[Sheepshanks]

Greenmantle said:

All I am saying is that if I register this said vehicle in an EU country of my choice then why cant I drive it exclusively in this country.

...because the law / customs regulations say you can't. It's the same in other countries - a Dutch colleague told me the Police are hot on it there to stop people using cars registered in Germany.

Greenmantle said:

There is no policing of well known HGV company to make sure that foreign registered vehicles are NOT spending all of its time here in Blighty.

The law / regulations allow them to do that.

[TooMany2cvs]

Sheepshanks said:

Greenmantle said:

There is no policing of well known HGV company to make sure that foreign registered vehicles are NOT spending all of its time here in Blighty.

The law / regulations allow them to do that.

...and https://www.gov.uk/hgv-levy

[Earthdweller]

[quote=Greenmantle]Just to bring this back on track.

All I am saying is that if I register this said vehicle in an EU country of my choice then why cant I drive it exclusively in this country.

Because it is illegal to do that .. fuller reply earlier in the thread

There is no policing of well known HGV company to make sure that foreign registered vehicles are NOT spending all of its time here in Blighty.

There most certainly is .. the authorities are very hot on it

The Operating licence is dependent on it .., vehicle must return to and be based in the depot to which they are licensed .. the company must be able to prove satisfactorily that they are complying with the terms of their O licence or they will lose it .. it could cost some companies millions to try to cheat the system

[foxbody-87]

We quite often used to hire a cherry picker type machine on Swedish plates, driven by British employees.
A guy from another company we used to hire in had a Golf estate on German plates.

[SantaBarbara]

What is the situation with Privately Owned Vehicles belonging to BFG personnel

Do you still have to register them with British Forces Germany

[Utterpiffle]

I rented a German van to move back to the UK. I was de-registered in Germany, so deemed a UK resident. I have a UK license.
Guess that was naughty then...

[TooMany2cvs]

Utterpiffle said:

I rented a German van to move back to the UK. I was de-registered in Germany, so deemed a UK resident. I have a UK license.
Guess that was naughty then...

Short-term rentals are, IIRC, another exception.