# Spanish Driving license - getting all classes of vehicle on it



## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

As you know the biggest complaint with DGT Trafico on the exchange of a British DVLA 
issued driving license to a Spanish license is their reluctance or refusal to grant the
same classes of vehicle your entitled to drive on the Spanish driving license that
you enjoyed on the British DVLA issued driving license.

Also some classes of vehicle your entitled to drive expire earlier than others on the
back of the Spanish driving license.

Therefore I would be interested to hear of the experiences of those that appealed
against the limitation of eligible classes of vehicle on the Spanish license to DGT
Trafico or DGT Trafico's reasons or excuses for limiting the granting of eligible
classes of vehicle upon exchange - namely do DGT Trafico cave in and reissue
the license with all the aforementioned entitlements upon receiving the drivers
complaint or do you have to go through Lawyers / Abogados to get it done ?

Finally whats the reason for some classes of vehicle on your Spanish driving license
expiring earlier than others and what's the procedure for getting it renewed ?


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

Quote “Finally whats the reason for some classes of vehicle on your Spanish driving license expiring earlier than others and what's the procedure for getting it renewed?”

The period for which licences are valid varies in spain from U.K. and probably many other countries too. It is just their law 

To renew a group which is coming to the end of the period for which it is valid, one does the same as renewing any DL

Hope that makes sense albeit you may not like that law


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Juan C said:


> Quote “Finally whats the reason for some classes of vehicle on your Spanish driving license expiring earlier than others and what's the procedure for getting it renewed?”
> 
> The period for which licences are valid varies in spain from U.K. and probably many other countries too. It is just their law
> 
> ...


Some classes of vehicle require you to be given a form of testing every so often, e.g. PSV, HGV and this can be amplified if one has certain medical conditions which don't actually preclude one's driving a particular class of vehicle but periodically require medical verification that you are still fit to drive. For example, having had a heart bypass, i was retested every five years to keep my bus driving licence.


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Juan C said:


> Quote “Finally whats the reason for some classes of vehicle on your Spanish driving license expiring earlier than others and what's the procedure for getting it renewed?”
> 
> The period for which licences are valid varies in spain from U.K. and probably many other countries too. It is just their law
> 
> ...


Well that answers my second question but there's still the issue of my first question.


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> Some classes of vehicle require you to be given a form of testing every so often, e.g. PSV, HGV and this can be amplified if one has certain medical conditions which don't actually preclude one's driving a particular class of vehicle but periodically require medical verification that you are still fit to drive. For example, having had a heart bypass, i was retested every five years to keep my bus driving licence.


Of course the rules for HGV and PSV licenses would be different but my license is
just the usual 'run of the mill' photocard driving license issued in the UK after passing
my driving test and then exchanged in Spain minus certain class of vehicles that
Trafico chose to omit from my Spanish driving license without giving me a reason.

Anyway I'll name the category of vehicles granted on my Spanish driving license, namely:
B, BE, C1 & C1E

Here's the category of vehicles that was not carried across onto my Spanish 
license from my British driving license upon exchange namely:
D1, D1E and then theres f, k, n, L, p

Any suggestions as to the reason why they are omitted and following on from this,
whats the procedure for getting them included on my Spanish driving license ?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Williams2 said:


> Of course the rules for HGV and PSV licenses would be different but my license is
> just the usual 'run of the mill' photocard driving license issued in the UK after passing
> my driving test and then exchanged in Spain minus certain class of vehicles that
> Trafico chose to omit from my Spanish driving license without giving me a reason.
> ...


D1 and D1E are bus licences for which you would have to take a test here in Spain. fknLp don't exist in Spain - how many milkmen pulling a float have you seen around Spain?


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> D1 and D1E are bus licences for which you would have to take a test here in Spain. fknLp don't exist in Spain - how many milkmen pulling a float have you seen around Spain?


So what your saying is I cannot drive or hire a minibus in Spain ( no more than 8 to 16 passengers )
like I enjoyed in the UK without passing the appropriate test.

Although as f is a farm tractor, k is a lawn mowing machine or pedestrian controlled vehicle and L is 
an electric propelled vehicle.

What category covers or is the equivalent of f, k & L in Spain ?

I wonder whether L for electric propelled vehicles in the UK includes all electric cars as well - whereas 
in Spain, I assume there's no such distinction or is included in another category.


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## MataMata (Nov 30, 2008)

It's true that according to the EU directive when exchanging a licence you cannot be stripped of or denied groups which you have entitlement to on your home licence, individual EU countries can however impose their own medical requirements to those and that's what's going on here - do the medicals and you can keep the groups. 

It's the law and the way it is so there is nothing to appeal.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Williams2 said:


> So what your saying is I cannot drive or hire a minibus in Spain ( no more than 8 to 16 passengers )
> like I enjoyed in the UK without passing the appropriate test.
> 
> Although as f is a farm tractor, k is a lawn mowing machine or pedestrian controlled vehicle and L is
> ...


I've told you what I know,for anything else you'll have to ask the DGT


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

MataMata said:


> It's true that according to the EU directive when exchanging a licence you cannot be stripped of or denied groups which you have entitlement to on your home licence, individual EU countries can however impose their own medical requirements to those and that's what's going on here - do the medicals and you can keep the groups.
> 
> It's the law and the way it is so there is nothing to appeal.


When I exchanged my British driving license for a Spanish driving license, I did
so after taking the Spanish driving license medical which I passed onto DGT at
my driving license exchange interview.

Therefore perhaps it's like Baldi says, that there's an extra test, over and
above the normal driving test in Spain, in order to be granted driving license
vehicle categories D1 & D1E and therefore Spain assumes that DVLA didn't do
due diligence or provide the appropriate driving test in the first place for 
British driving license holders with D1, D1E issued before the 1st January 1997.

In the UK drivers who passed their driving test on or after the 1st January 1997
only recieve entitlement to drive Category B vehicles on their full driving license
whereas those that passed their test before the 1st January 1997 ( normally )
got all these categories B, BE, C1 & C1E, D1, D1E and f, k, n, L, p on their
British driving license.

The only way a British driving license holder would have got more catagories after
the 1/1/1997 is if he or she passed their driving test in a higher category vehicle
and therefore would automatically be entitled to the lower catagories as well.

The link below explains it well:

Fleet News - UK driving license categories & what happened to Driving 
Licenses for those that passed their test after 1st January 1997


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

My understanding.
The minibus entitlement that we had on our UK licence (for many of us) will in Spain need a PSV entitlement & that of course needs a PSV driving test.
HGV are like for like.


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

VFR said:


> My understanding.
> The minibus entitlement that we had on our UK licence (for many of us) will in Spain need a PSV entitlement & that of course needs a PSV driving test.
> HGV are like for like.


Well I was really talking about the D1 & D1E categories that I had on my UK license.

Well if your saying that D1 & D1E categories are really PSV ? or the same as PSV ? 
in Spain - then how come the UK look at it differently or does DVLA envisage it as 
being for someone driving a VW Campervan that just happens to accommodate
8 people or any other such vehicle of that description or even a minibus driven
not for public transport or commercial use ?

If so then I know loads of drivers in the UK with D1 & D1E categories on their UK driving
license but have never applied for a PSV license their life.


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hola 

I know that there is a difference in large vans; the licence for my 3.5 ton gvw van had to be renewed every two years whereas the car licence was for five years 

Davexf


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Williams2 said:


> Well I was really talking about the D1 & D1E categories that I had on my UK license.
> 
> Well if your saying that D1 & D1E categories are really PSV ? or the same as PSV ?
> in Spain - then how come the UK look at it differently or does DVLA envisage it as
> ...


Which raises an interesting question would Trafico require the parents of a large family 
to apply for a PSV license in order to get categories D1 & D1E on their Spanish 
driving license, in order to drive their large family around Spain ?


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

davexf said:


> Hola
> 
> I know that there is a difference in large vans; the licence for my 3.5 ton gvw van had to be renewed every two years whereas the car licence was for five years
> 
> Davexf


Yes now for Brits that are on a Spanish driving license and are thinking of doing a
DIY move of their parents or their grown up childrens 'goods and chatels' to Spain
using a 3.5 ton Removal Van, etc, it's an issue !
Any grief over their driving license categories is bound to torpedo any 'Do it Yourself' 
removal plans in favour of dishing out extra cash ( because they can see no other 
way round it ) to hire a Removal firm with all the extra costs.

Although no doubt they can can breath a sigh of relief that they don't need a 
Minibus in their DIY Removal plans.

:lol:


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## Irish Lad (Jan 29, 2018)

I recently exchanged an old (1980's) UK paper licence for a current EU Irish licence. As anticipated I lost some entitlements such as D1, D1E.
I queried this of the national authority here and it was explained that basically the EU recognition is limited to direct EU categories only and the entitlement to minibus not for reward etc was a unique to UK only category, issued on foot of only passing a car (under 3500kg, under 9 passengers) test way back and therefore without a direct match EU category.
To be fair that seems a reasonable explanation. A pain but one related to local differences rather than any sinister plot...


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

I exchanged my licence in 2004, and honestly I can't even remember what categories I had on my UK licence. But I have always been quite surprised to have C1 and C1E entitlement in Spain. This gives BTP entitlement too, although they all are 5 yr renewal periods instead of 10 years for my Aand B categories. I don't have D1 either.


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Williams2 said:


> In the UK drivers who passed their driving test on or after the 1st January 1997
> only recieve entitlement to drive Category B vehicles on their full driving license
> whereas those that passed their test before the 1st January 1997 ( normally )
> got all these categories B, BE, C1 & C1E, D1, D1E and f, k, n, L, p on their
> ...


Are there any Britsih Expat/Immigrant posters out there that passed their British driving test
after the 1st January 1997 and can confirm what categories of vehicle they were initially 
entitled to drive after getting their first full driving license and ( of course ) what categories
they got on their Spanish driving license upon exchange.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

There used to be a " road roller" category on my licence but I notice it has disappeared 

How am I supposed to drive such a vehicle if for instance there was a unusual bump to appear on our local road?



Outraged and wary of bumps- Valencia


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