Driver's licence - How to exchange British one to Polish legally?

Dougpol2 1 | 76

5 Jul 2010 / #31

If you are permanently resident in Poland you can drive here legally on a UK licence for 6 months or one year. Then you must change it for a Polish licence.

No way would I exchange my British license for a Polish one - call me a snob if you like - but then when I'm back in Blighty for whatever reason I dont want to be explaining to the car hire firm or the polish that "It's alright, I can drive, I passed my test in the UK 25 years ago and wasn't "taught to drive" by some Mickey mouse Polish state sponsored cowboy".

Poland does a whole lot of things well - driving aint one of them. IMO

sobieski 106 | 2111

5 Jul 2010 / #32

No, your driving licence (since you come from another EU country) is valid in Poland as well. (though I am not sure abour the UK and Irish ones - righthand driving). I am driving on my Belgian licence here without problems.

By the way, can somebody confirm that even with another EU licence you get points deducted? Belgian licences do not have points, but I heard this is connected to your PESEL ?

Harry

5 Jul 2010 / #33

Are you 100% sure you won't have an accident where the other party will resort to every trick in the book to cause you trouble?

It is 100% legal to drive in Poland on a British licence. I should know, I've been doing it for ten years.

delphiandomine 86 | 17823

6 Jul 2010 / #34

I need to take a test so how do I do this without exchanging my license?

No chance, sunshine. You want to add categories, you need a Polish licence.

By the way, can somebody confirm that even with another EU licence you get points deducted?

Yeah, it's how it works. It's why you have to go to the police station to find out your driving record - it's all through the PESEL.

Of course, if you're stopped for something mundane, like speeding - don't volunteer any information about your PESEL at all and act stupid about it. The beauty of being a foreigner is that you can play dumb and get away with it - after all, they can only add points to a PESEL that they know about.

Quite clever really, especially considering the way that the UK can't add points to foreign licenses!