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‘I’m 8km from the nearest supermarket’: The Britons in France struggling without driving licences

The issue of British driving licences and Brexit has been complicated and frustrating for many UK citizens living in France. The ongoing impasse over a post-Brexit agreement between the France and the UK has left many British citizens living in France confused, and in some cases without valid driving licence.

Published: 1 April 2021 17:03 CEST
'I'm 8km from the nearest supermarket': The Britons in France struggling without driving licences
The lack of an agreement between the UK and France means that no applications for exchanges are currently being accepted. Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP

Non-EU citizens living in France must exchange their driving license for a French one in order to legally drive in France. The French government announced at the end of last year that this rule would apply to Britons living in France, who would have to swap their licence for a French one before the end of December 2021 – except that no applications for exchanges are currently being accepted because the UK and France have failed to reach a reciprocal agreement.

The French authorities had set up an online portal that replaced paper applications, to make the process easier. But those applying to exchange their licences since January have had their requests systematically rejected by the new French online system. 

READ ALSO: No end in sight to driving licence woes for Brits in France

This has left thousands of British citizens living in France, many of whom are elderly and live in rural areas, without a valid permit because their UK licence has expired. Driving without a valid permit in France can result in a fine of up to €15,000.

Some people’s licences have already expired and have no way of renewing or exchanging them, while others are worried about the increasingly short timeframe for exchange even after an agreement is reached. Others have been waiting for months and years only to have their applications sent back.

To get a scale of the problem, The Local put out a survey for readers to share their successful and unsuccessful experiences, and we were inundated with responses – most of which expressed frustration with an ongoing problem that, after years of Brexit negotiations, remains unresolved.

Marianne Ironside, who lives in the Indre département, was one of dozens of respondents who said they had their paper application returned to them over a year after it was first submitted, along with a letter asking her to apply via the new online system. “They sat on my application for 18 months and then sent it back and told me to reapply online. Because I also have an HGV licence I have to get a medical, and the waiting list meant I couldn’t get one before the January cut off, so I am now in limbo.”

Due to a wave of demands, people were asked not to apply until their license was due to expire, but those who waited just before their expiry date have not been successful either.

READ ALSO: Is my UK driving licence still legal in France

“We were told to wait until after Brexit, and then not to use the online system to allow people who only had 3 months until expiry to get their licence exchange. Now the online application system is closed,” said Sharon Rees-Williams, who lives in Villefranche du Perigord in the Dordogne. “We are really worried. The shops are 30 mins drive away. We both need to drive for our businesses,” she said of her and her partner.

The situation left many people who live in remote rural areas and whose licences have expired with no legal way of getting around, while elderly residents are unable to get to their medical appointments. 

This was the case for Many Ohayon, who lives in Haute Savoie. She was eventually successful in exchanging her licence, but only after a long process involving problems uploading documents to the website, which she was unable to provide after her provisional attestation had expired. 

“I was actually in hospital the night it expired, and had no choice but to drive home the next day,” she said. “I was in a grey area of legality and I cannot possibly convey how frustrating and stressful that was along with the communication with the French authorities. I feel so sorry for all those still living that nightmare, particularly those who have passed 70 years old and whose licences are definitely no longer valid.”

READ ALSO: Is my UK licence still valid for driving in France?

Commuters, and people who need a driving licence for their job, have also been left at risk of losing their jobs. 

“I applied when I could, sent all the relevant paperwork but still no licence, and therefore I am not currently in possession of a valid licence to do my job or drive my car anywhere” said Garry Parker, who drives a school bus in the Dordogne and whose licence expired in February. “I have contacted ANTS many times and they tell me to be patient and that the licence is being processed, but I live in a small, rural commune 8km from the nearest supermarket.”

Several respondents have been caught in a similar limbo. Since first applying for an exchange in 2018, Stuart Orsborn, who lives in the tiny village of Clussais-la-Pommeraie an hour drive south of Poitiers, tried again after he lost his wallet in 2019, but is still waiting. “I’m told I am currently under investigation and have been since December 2020. I have now been without a licence for 22 months!” he said. “I currently drive around with photocopies of emails chasing up my licence and a photocopy of my UK licence.”

While there continues to be no agreement between France and the UK, many Britons in desperate situations like these are left with the only option of having to retake their driving test in France – a long and expensive process that not everyone can afford.

After two failed attempts in 2018 and 2019, James Hollingsworth, who lives in La Tronche, applied for a third time in January, only to discover that the system had been blocked. “It’s infuriating and completely ridiculous,” he said. “Both UK and French driving tests are rigorous and expensive, so the idea that I will need to retake my driving license after driving in France for nearly 10 years is bizarre. “

READ ALSO: What foreigners should know about the French driving test

“It’s also very expensive to take the test in France, and it’s a financial obstacle for us. Both UK and French governments have been hopeless at communicating on this issue, and I’m fed up with their inactivity and lack of information. I feel very stressed out by this, and exasperated.”

The situation has been so long and frustrating, that some respondents said they are even considering going back to the UK if the problem isn’t solved soon. “I applied two years ago but my documentation was returned due to the system going fully automated,” said AJ Tarr from Brittany. “I’m still not able to apply like so many other people. I’m considering going back to the UK. Thank you Mr Johnson.”

John Turner, who also lives in Brittany, is in a similar situation. “I have been informed I can still drive on my UK licence until 31st December 2021. After this if there is no agreement I will have to return to the UK,” he said.

Member comments

  1. I feel so sorry for the people unable to exchange their friving license. In my experience the French system can be absolute fustrating, especially if your French is not 100% fluent. Try calling any official organisation, often very fustrating with zero willingness to talk slowly and be patient, that’s when you guess the options right and get to speak to a real person!
    Maybe I have an idea what might work for shopping trips etc, if you can afford it buy a 45km car, you can always sell it later on.
    ‘French mini cars are known as voitures citadines (urban cars/city cars/compact cars), but French micro cars are known as voitures sans permis meaning licence free cars. … Learner drivers must be 18 before they can pass the practical driving test for cars. These cars are tiny and very slow with a maximum speed of 45km/h’.
    You will be able to do distances up to 50km quite comfortable, you are legal and dry in bad weather. It is just a thought, my very old father was no longer allowed to drive after an intracerebral hemorrhage (he did nearly fully
    recovered) and he was using one of those for short trips to doctor, barber etc. It is just an idea what might be a solution for now.

  2. Also in Italy we have this same damn problem….we knew Brexit was coming and we would need to jump through hoops to regularise our situations as EU residents but this reciprocal driving licence exchange is a farce…This is becoming a defacto driving ban unless you are fluent enough in your local language to understand the nuanced question in the theory part of a driving test even my local driving school tells me Italians struggle with the way questions are phrased.

    I personally did start the procedure last February to exchange my licence but halted the procedure because I had to visit the UK and you can’t rent a car without an actual licence…(you need to surrender your UK licence with an application)…When I returned form UK covid was taking a hold, here in Italy new licences were not being issued for Italians just extended until November…So past experience warned me trying to get a any official document was going to be a long drawn out affair… I decided to wait incase I needed my licence to visit the UK again…

    Then Brexit day arrived and I suddenly forgot how to drive after 40 years!!!

    To top it all off as I understand it from the DVLA an Italian or EU citizen in the UK can still just pay £43 and exchange their licence.

  3. We both applied to exchange our driving licences in January 2019. My husband got his through quite quickly because it was due to expire, however my applicarion was returned to me many months later with a letter saying that because the UK was still in the EU it was not necessary to change my licence. Out of interest I had at the same time sent off our applications for Cartes de Séjour.
    Back to driving licence, I started to do the online application in January this year and got to the stage where it listed what categories you held. Since I know I need a medical to renew the C1 category I binned the application with the intention of checking exactly what B&E towing category covered as we have a heavy trailer. I think now I’ll forget the heavier categories, though it would have been quite fun to have an HGV licence as I understand some people have ended up with over the years.
    Subsequent to that we got embroiled with re-applying online for cartes de sejour, successfully getting an appointment at Bordeaux prefecture in February this year, at which point it was revealing to see that the very pleasant guy behind the guichet had our previous application from 2019 in front of him !!!!
    Anyway, havingread that all applications were being rejected I haven’t bothered to attack driving licence again – yet… I’ll have to have a look and see on the ANTs site, which I’ve dealt with a few times and have another go. I assume I’ll be stuck like everyone else…
    Bl****y. brexit

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LIVING IN FRANCE

5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

Now that the dust has settled from the somewhat chaotic post-Brexit period, the system for swapping a UK driving licence for a French one seems to be running fairly smoothly. There are, however, some things that UK licence holders need to know.

Published: 3 May 2024 17:20 CEST
5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

This article is aimed at holders of a UK or Northern Ireland driving licence who are living in France – tourists, visitors and second-home owners can continue to drive in France on a UK licence and do not need an international driving permit.

British students who are studying in France on a student visa can continue to drive on their UK licence during their studies – if however they settle in France afterwards, they need to follow the below process for swapping their licence. 

1 You’re special

Well, maybe special is over-stating it, but the system for holders of UK and NI licence holders is different to that of other non-EU nationals, and also different to the system for EU licence holders.

The reason for this is that a pragmatic post-Brexit agreement was (finally) reached between France and the UK, in order to avoid the chaos that was triggered when thousands of Brits in France all tried to swap their driving licences at once.

Unlike almost all other post-Brexit agreements, this one applies both to people who moved to France before the end of Brexit transition period in 2021 and those who have moved here since. 

The below terms apply to everyone who has a UK or NI licence, regardless of their nationality or when they moved to France. 

2 But you still have to swap

It was technically always the case that Brits who were living in France should have swapped their licence for a French one, just as other EU licence holders do now, but in reality many people lived here for years or decades without ever exchanging their licence and there was little or no enforcement of the rule.

That has now changed and you must swap according to the following timetable;

If your UK licence was issued after January 1st, 2021 – you must swap within one year of moving to France.

If your UK licence was issued before January 1st 2021 – you only swap when you meet one of the following conditions;

  • The licence itself or the photocard is within six months of its expiry date. For more people the photocard expiry will come around first, but UK licences also require renewal when the holder reaches the age of 70
  • Your licence has been lost or stolen
  • You have been ordered to exchange your licence by a gendarme after committing a driving offence

For people who are exchanging because the licence is about to expire, it is important that you don’t start the process until your licence is within six months of the expiry date – early applications will simply be rejected.

3 It might not be as much of a nightmare as you think 

Unlike the old days when licence swaps were done by préfectures, the whole process has now moved online and is run through a single, central system.

The online portal for requesting a swap is known as ANTS and you can find it HERE.

If you haven’t used it before you will need to create an online account, or if you already have online accounts for French government services such as Ameli or tax declarations you can login by clicking on the France Connect button.

Once logged in, select Je demande l’échange ou l’enregistrement de mon permis de conduire étranger (I request the exchange or registration of a foreign driving licence) and fill in the details requested on the form such as name, address etc.

You might be pleasantly surprised by the fact the form itself is relatively straightforward (as French admin forms go), asking basic questions such as your personal details and the details of your driving licence.

You will have to upload supporting documents, but these are likely to be things that you already have to hand including

  • Proof of ID (passport or carte de séjour)
  • Proof of address (a recent utility bill or attestation from your utility provider)
  • If your driver’s licence is in a different name to your passport, you will need to supply your full birth certificate

You will also need to supply a photo – you can either use the internet-enabled Photomaton booths – find your nearest here – to create a digital photo with the required security code, or you can use the normal photo booths to print out a physical photo and send it by post after you have made your application. 

Once completed, you can use the ANTS site to track the progress of your application and upload any other documents that are requested.

4 But don’t leave it too late 

If you’re applying because your licence is about to expire then you cannot apply until you are within six months of the expiry date.

But it’s a good idea not to leave it until the last minute as the whole process does take time – things have improved massively since the dark days of 2020 and 2021 when people were waiting for years and their licences expired while they waited.

But it still takes time – the current average for a straightforward application with no extra documents required seems to be between four and five months, although processing times can vary, especially over holiday periods.

It’s therefore a good idea to make the application fairly soon after you enter that magic six-month window.

Once you make the application you should get an automated response acknowledging receipt – this is usually sent by SMS and/or email, it’s a good idea to check your spam folder if you don’t get the email.

Don’t panic if you don’t then hear anything for the next few weeks or even months, this appears to be normal. If your application is complete and there are no outstanding queries or other documents required, the next step will be a request to send in your old UK licence.

You send this by post (recorded delivery with a signature is strongly recommended) and at the same time you can download an Attestation de Depot de Permis de Conduire (certificate of deposit of driving licence) – you can use this to prove your continued entitled to drive in the period between sending in your old licence and receiving your new one.

Your French licence is then sent by registered post, and the window between posting the old licence and receiving the new one is usually not more than a month, you 

5 Help is out there 

If your application runs into problems or you have an untypical situation or find the ANTS website hard to use, don’t panic – help is available.

The Facebook group Driving in France – French Licence Applications is a good place to start with comprehensive guides and knowledgeable admins who are quick to respond to questions.

You can also chat to others in your situation and get updates on how long processing times seem to be.

If you have problems using the online system, your local France Services office may be able to help.

You can also head to The Local’s reader questions section, or email us at [email protected] if you have questions.

Digital licences

You might have heard about France’s new digital driving licence – unfortunately this is only available to people who have French citizenship (including dual nationals).

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