Viewing 31 posts - 1 through 31 (of 31 total)
  • Driving from home in Spain to visit son in the UK after “Brexit” . . .
  • spekkie
    Free Member

    How easy is it going to be?

    Sorry – thread posted itself prematurely thanks to the page jumping around loading adverts etc etc.

    I have Spanish residence but I am a British Subject with a British Passport.
    I would be driving through France.

    MSP
    Full Member

    Nobody knows, until there is a deal or not.

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    Get whatever the ‘visiting the UK’ equivalent of a UK driver visiting Europe green card is.

    check insurance (and breakdown) covers you in in non-EU countries.

    prepare for a long wait at the port.

    bring food parcels, we’ll need them.

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    If you’re a “British Subject with a British Passport” why should there be any problem?

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    If you’re a “British Subject with a British Passport” why should there be any problem?

    Depends where car registered, insurance held, customs checks, ferry disruption and delays etc

    It’s not just about waving a blue passport out your car window and swanning through…

    oldnpastit
    Full Member

    I think there might be some advice from the Government.

    I found some stuff about taking dogs to the EU on holiday.

    After reading it, I booked a week in the Scottish Borders, near Kirroughtree.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    You might need an international driving permit one way or the other. Your insurance company also might need to know – assuming they are Spanish. They probably have rules about driving outside the EU. Although, when I was in Finland IIRC they had rules about which countries you COULD drive to, it would be funny if the UK slipped off that list wouldn’t it?

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    Depends where car registered, insurance held

    Ah, fair enough.

    globalti
    Free Member

    Be careful you don’t get T boned at a junction by a blind halfwit aged 97 in a Range Rover….

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    We’re taking the kids frogside just after “it” is due to happen. We were torn between driving (chunnel or ferries, Dover or hull) or flying. In the end we decided to fly, on the basis that the ferries are likely to be fecked and I didn’t fancy being stuck with 3 screaming brats in a big queue for several days trapped in a tin can.
    Not saying that the airports are going to be any better but I’m assuming they’ll be more likely to be sorted due to European air tragic arrangements.
    Also, by booking a package holiday I’m hoping if it all goes tits up, someone will sort it.
    Whatever happens, it’ll be my fault. But I knew that when I got married.

    spekkie
    Free Member

    I feel your pain Rich.

    My car is Spanish registered and LHD.
    Insurance is Spanish.

    My main concern was driving through France on just my British Passport. Maybe I’ll need a visa to get from my country of residence to my country of birth. Unless I fly.

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    I think with your list of “what ifs” I’d fly! 😉

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    Stay away, the UK doesn’t want foreign people coming here.

    Unless…

    You will be spending lots of money, maybe buying property, taking advantage of Tax Breaks.

    But If you are a commoner, you aren’t welcome.

    HTHs

    🤡

    mrmo
    Free Member

    My main concern was driving through France on just my British Passport. Maybe I’ll need a visa to get from my country of residence to my country of birth. Unless I fly.

    spain to france should be ok, i am assuming you have a residence permit for Spain? Both are Schegen zone countries and covered by a standard schegen visa, ie 90 days in 6 months unless resident.

    Issue will be crossing into UK, article in Irish paper yesterday, basically green cards and international driving permits. That was to cross from RoI into NI and vice versa. but the same will apply

    rickmeister
    Full Member

    Mmmm… its a dilemma.

    We are both going to Brighton for a conference, one of us is flying Germany – Gatwick on the 29th March,

    I’m driving with a Dunkirk – Dover crossing 28th March…

    Andrea is German, German passport… I’m Uk passport holder, German resident, German plated car…. I expect to die of hunger in Operation Stack trying to get to Dover on the way home… if I get in of course…

    richmtb
    Full Member

    I can top all of that.

    My Mother in Law is visiting us from Romania in the middle of March and staying for a month. If there is a No Deal she might be stuck here!

    scud
    Free Member

    I am wondering this, got to go to Belgium for a race in April, I am British with UK passport and UK registered car, but have a German driving licence converted to a European Driving Licence as i was stationed in Germany when i was younger, wondering what trouble this was going to cause, i am wondering about just going on Eurostar with bike

    spekkie
    Free Member

    The only real reason for driving is to bring stuff back with us. Belongings currently in storage in the UK. Its not a cheap trip, so if it’s just to visit I guess we’ll fly Zaragoza to Stanstead for tuppence instead.

    spekkie
    Free Member

    Its funny how used to it we got being able to move freely. I’m used to driving to Calais, driving onto the train, sleeping for 30 mins and then carrying on with barely a 2 minute stop at customs either end.

    This is all sounding rather unappealing to be honest.

    scud
    Free Member

    This is it, i love Northern France and Belgium for the biking and the beers, i am going to Belgium 3 times in 2019 for various events and a bikepacking weekend, i liked the fact that 90 minutes on the ferry and you’re there, another 30 minutes and you’re in Belgium, land of the tough bike event and strong beer… to think that we will end up with hours of paperwork before we go, visa, Green Cards and the like will spoil a lot of the fun, i hate flying these days, not because if the physical act of flying, but all the faff of airports (especially with a Type 1 diabetic daughter who has an insulin pump, the faff to get her through customs is daft now)

    mrmo
    Free Member

    I can top all of that.

    My Mother in Law is visiting us from Romania in the middle of March and staying for a month. If there is a No Deal she might be stuck here!

    Joking,

    Just ring the HO and i am sure they will be happy to deport her for you

    mrmo
    Free Member

    i am wondering about just going on Eurostar with bike

    Eurostar: a casualty of Brexit?

    mrmo
    Free Member

    Belongings currently in storage in the UK.

    This is for Switzerland, but you would do well to be aware of the potential rules about moving possessions, it isn’t just stick it in a van. you may be in a position where you need to declare what you are carrying.

    https://www.ch.ch/en/moving-switzerland/

    willard
    Full Member

    I have just taken the step of posting my UK driving license off so that it can be exchanged for a Swedish one. This is step two to becoming a Swedish citizen.

    brassneck
    Full Member

    I had heard talk of insurance green cards also .. but everything hinges on no deal AFAIK.

    augustuswindsock
    Full Member

    Can’t answer your question, but if anybody asks, tell them I voted remain!

    ajantom
    Full Member

    We were meant to be visiting my mum in the Pyrenees at Easter.

    Me, the wife, and two under 5s. Flying from the SW to that region is a hassle at the best of times, so we had planned to drive…..hahaha.

    Not now we ain’t! Think we’ll leave the trip for a few months to see what actually happens. I don’t want to be stuck at a ferry port in a car with a screaming 2yr old. No sirree.

    csb
    Full Member

    Spekkie, it sound’s to me like your hassles will be departing from the UK given your documentation?

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    It’s not just about waving a blue passport out your car window and swanning through…

    But that is what they promised….

    We had a letter from our insurers at work this week, bumping up cost of a corporate travel insurance policy, including hire cars, by a fair whack. They also reminded us that no one knows what is required yet, so no matter what happens in march, we must comply with new requirements.

    superfli
    Free Member

    For Brits driving in EU with UK license, the worst that will happen is that we will need an IDP 1968 for most and IDP49 for Spain. Each costs about £5 from the bigger post offices. And also a greencard from insurance company. Thats the worst.
    We may get some agreement for our license holders that allows us to drive in EU without the IDP.

    Sounds like a mountain out of a molehill

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