Driving in the UK on a foreign licence—dare you take the risk, ask Robert Brown & Charles Elton
Kamikaze cyclists, the congestion charge and the parking enforcement brigade—it’s a wonder foreign nationals driving in the UK manage to get from A to B without their journey resulting in either corporal or financial ruin. But rules are rules. And though the rule book that keeps the traffic flowing is more than 1,200 pages, there is the reassurance that the rules are applied fairly and equally to all. Unfortunately, they are not.
The problem started with a misinterpretation of the law attributed, wrongly, by police to previous editions of Wilkinson, the hallowed authority on road traffic. This error has led, and continues to lead, to the police wrongfully issuing significant numbers of foreign drivers with fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for allegedly driving otherwise than in accordance with a valid licence, an offence under s 87(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA 1988).
An FPN for a UK licence-holder is certainly irritating. An FPN for driving without a valid licence, if the licence is alleged
