# driving licence



## Julie67

My husbands come over from the UK for a week and wants to hire a car for a day or so. He only has a UK driving licence (photo licence and full paper) but does not have an international driving licence. Is the UK licence sufficient?


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## GM1

I don't think so! But why doesn't he get an international one from England? Please use Google, I would have that too, to find out how you can get one in England. I think it must be easy, because it is in Holland.


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## NZCowboy

If you are only looking at hiring a car for a few days, I would suggest that you hire one with a driver supplied or the cheaper option probably is a taxi. We have 3 or 4 taxis that we use regularly and we work on 20le per hour, by chance yesterday we had a white taxi for the afternoon, and he had his meter on. Came to the house about 12:30 dropped us back at 5:30 and the meter was running all the time, we did about 38km visited a number of shops and he sat and waited for us and the meter showed 72.75le, we happily gave him 100le for the 5 hours.
I have my local driving license but its much easier to use taxis or hire car with a driver, as you know driving here is chaotic, and it takes a while to get used to the system/madness and finding your way about is difficult as you can't to get a decent map and there is very little street/road signage.


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## SHendra

I'll second what NZ said too. I never bothered going for my local license either. With the added bonus of you never need to worry where to park and can go near on door to door! A friend drove me to a court one day and we spent more time looking for somewhere to park than had I of just did my usual and just gone by a taxi! Once you find good taxi drivers or hire a private driver then your made!


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## cutiepie

You can drive for upto 3 months on your UK License here,or maybe it's just a month? Anyway I know lots of people who drive using their UK License only and have been here for years! I presume it's Sharm your husband would be renting the car, so therefor driving there is not such a problem as driving in Cairo. I always drove in Sharm and now in Hurghada but would never attempt Cairo or Alex!!


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## Horus

Your brave driving in Egypt, Cairo is nuts however Sharm is easy to drive


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## bat

Horus said:


> Your brave driving in Egypt, Cairo is nuts however Sharm is easy to drive


It's easy to get a licence here, so why not and people do get fined for using a non Egyptian license it depends on the mood of the officer, the same for speeding , sometimes they let you go , other times not. I used taxis for many years , and they are not safe, yes you can find very good taxi drivers but it only takes that one to give you a bad experience . Yes metro can be a good option but as my daughter can tell you sometimes she got off the woman only carriage as they were a bit to handy with there closeness. So it's up to each individual to try many modes of transport until they find what they are comfortable with.


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## kevinthegulf

Julie67 said:


> My husbands come over from the UK for a week and wants to hire a car for a day or so. He only has a UK driving licence (photo licence and full paper) but does not have an international driving licence. Is the UK licence sufficient?


To the best of my knowledge- if you do not have an Egyptian licence, then you need an international driving licence (available at main post offices in the UK)

Regarding length of time you can use one I do not know, my first year here I used an UAE international licence, now I am using UK international licence.
Is there really any laws here about it??


Probably the one country if you were to travel to that does not want an international licence is the USA.


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## bat

kevinthegulf said:


> To the best of my knowledge- if you do not have an Egyptian licence, then you need an international driving licence (available at main post offices in the UK)
> 
> Regarding length of time you can use one I do not know, my first year here I used an UAE international licence, now I am using UK international licence.
> Is there really any laws here about it??
> 
> 
> Probably the one country if you were to travel to that does not want an international licence is the USA.


Yes there are laws they maybe a bit lax if your a foreigner but if your Egyptian they are strict , that's why they flash on the opposite side when road blocks are about. Some road blocks looking for particular people but others for licenses. Yes they do fine foreigners ( twice I've been done ) Im not sure why people don't just get an Egyptian licence.


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## Sam

Hi Julie,

It is obligatory to have either an IDP or an Egyptian license. And they are definitely not lax with foreigners in Sharm, on the contrary they see it an an easy target for money since so many foreigners do not have the necessary documents. I drove for a long time using just my UK license, but then after being stopped three times in a month after what seemed to be a crack down, I was forced to get legal!! I still regularly get stopped and asked for my license, but showing an Egyptian driving license minimises all questions. A rent-a-car place would not have the requirement for the driving license since they just want your business and don't care if you are stopped or not, as long as you have some form of driving license.

For the sake of a week then maybe just risk it, but if you're looking at a long term solution then you should get yourselves sorted.


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## Lanason

Horus said:


> Your brave driving in Egypt, Cairo is nuts however Sharm is easy to drive


I got my licence about 6 months ago and drive everywhere in Cairo. Downtown etc etc.
But a visitor should definitely have a taxi or driver - no way drive!!!


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