Restrictions on mopeds

Check with the police but as I understand it you can ride an up to 125cc with a full UK car (and obviously motorcycle) licence. Of course if you are resident here you are much better off changing to a Spanish license, useful as photo ID. If you keep your UK licence and are resident (i.e. You spend more than 183 days in a calendar year in Spain) you must follow the same rules as the Spanish regarding medicals. 

If you have your residencia then it is now illegal to drive with a UK licence for more than 6 months and the police are having great fun pulling people and confiscating their vehicle. Big fine to get it back. It is easy to change your UK licence to a spanish one at your local Traffico.

Sorry, but this is not true. While the UK remains a member of the EU a plastic photo licence remains valid until the photo expires, when it is illegal to renew it in the UK.

Sadly all the police forces here have little real idea of the laws, and individual officers are quite likely to impose fines for things that are not offences, especially in cash with (if any) readable receipt so you can appeal.

The best course IMHO is to accept that you are in Spain, are unlikely to change the competence level of Trafico or Policia, and change to a Spanish licence, an easy and inexpensive procedure.

Unless of course your favourite hobby is banging your head on a brick wall......

The plus point of their not knowing the laws is if you are one of those people who live here, claim not to be resident, and refuse to change your car onto Spanish plates (probably because you would lose your ego-massaging personal plate!) thus not paying road tax here, having ITV inspections and so on - you are sadly unlikely to get stopped and the vehicle impounded at the roadside as should happen.

There has been a lot about this in the local spanish press for the last couple of years. The police have been randomly setting up road blocks and checking peoples licences. I quote:

"For foreign nationals living in Spain from the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) – EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – the Spanish government has approved new regulations that require those who have become Spanish residents to obtain a Spanish licence.

The new regulation forces EU nationals who are legal residents in Spain to get a Spanish licence, in part because some countries, such as the UK, don't require medical check-ups until you turn 70, and because some countries, such as Germany, issue driving licences that never expire. This law thus enables Spain to check the health conditions and ability of foreign drivers in Spain."

They can say what they like but the law is that a valid UK EU licence, with the necessary medical certification does not need to be changed to Spanish. The problems come from the wide range of differences within the EU, and the somewhat understandable confusion with the police. It is easier for them to just tell you to change your licence, and thus easier for resident ex-pats to do so.

Those from outside the EU, for example Americans, where each state has its own laws about driving have no option but to take a Spanish driving exam and test, in Spanish, so Brits have it easy!

Well anybody caught around here with a UK licence if they are resident is in for a hard time. Vehicle impounded plus hefty fine plus the removal and storage charge.

Could the offence be that it is on Brit plates, which a resident is not allowed to drive?

No. a lot of people here just don't want to or can't be bothered to give up their UK licences.