Is there anyone else caught up in the Driving Licence Exchange Nightmare?

I think the vast majority knew about it and quietly got on with taking a Spanish test.

I am in the same situation, brand new car sat on the drive and having to spend a fortune on taxis.

Going back to the uk for August and if it ain't settled by September then I will hand in my TIE and revert to 90 days.

Luckily I never sold my house in the UK.

Yes it's down to Brexit which I never voted for but the attitude of the Spanish DGT has been vindictive.

Spain is now the only country in Europe not to have a licence exchange arrangement with the UK.

Go figure........

Easy to blame the dgt or Spanish government, but given that this uk government is a disaster might it be more to do with them refusing to allow dgt to access data?

Hi Frank21, my husband and I are also caught up in this. We're in San Pedro del Pinatar and, for the first couple of months it was a novelty and a challenge that we took on and prided ourselves with remaining self sufficient by walking or cycling everywhere. However, in this heat it's becoming harder and harder and I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by it

We actually took our theory tests last November which involved a lot of work plus €92 ish each for the test plus €64 for the online practice tests. I passed first time, my husband the 2nd time. We then enrolled at the driving school (€150 each) and had 2 lessons each before Christmas (€32 each for the 1st one and €64 each for the 2nd one as we had to drive the instructor yo Cartagena and then have our lesson there). We went back to the UK for Christmas and ended up staying a month as my father in law passed away and when we returned there had been an extension of 2 months of being able to drive on our UK licence. All the talk was positive about an agreement being reached so, having realised that the driving aspect was not that straightforward and could end up being costly for nothing, we decided to shelve the lessons. I don't regret our decision but I do wish we weren't being used as pawns in the negotiations as the agreement isn't about us. Meanwhile the British tourists who the DGT want to be able to trace by having access (rightly) to driver data are coming in to the country in their droves and are able to hire cars and drive legally! Now that's frustrating!

I hope everyone else who is caught up in this situation which was going to be resolved in "weeks rather than months" is coping and I feel your pain and frustration. 

Best wishes to all, Helena 

Yes, well Spain and other counties are negotiating with the UK on lots of things post brexit. And with so many EU member states and different discussions (Ireland, it's agriculture and trade, France it's immigration, Spain is trade again and British residents and reciprocal healthcare) and it's only possible to negotiate on so many fronts at the same time. Don't forget, to use driving licences as an example, that the UK could do an EU wide deal on this and other matters by dealing directly with the Commission. It's the UK refuses to do that...

So in negotiations, Spain has to choose its weapons and what options and tools it has to best serve its own best interests as a sovereign nation. It's not just the UK's right to be sovereign and 'take back control'! And driving permits offer a powerful tool because, yes so many Brits reside here using Uk licences. Yes, Uk drivers in Spain are a negotiating pawn... but Brexit was the choice the UK made and those of us who opposed it are frequently urged to quit whinging.