If you are convicted of drink driving in Ireland, how do the authorities apply that ban to the UK? What happens if you move from Ireland to the UK in between the arrest and the actual conviction? Do the police take your licence away from you in the interim period?

do you have both a UK and an Irish driving licence?

Just to clarify it ain’t me. I’d assume the person in question only holds an Irish licence.

direct.gov.uk

Not sure if that’s all the answers you’re looking for but a start perhaps.

If they no longer hold a valid driving licence what would make you think they could drive anywhere? Just because you ‘had’ a licence doesn’t automatically entitle you to drive in other countries.

If they no longer hold a valid driving licence what would make you think they could drive anywhere? Just because you ‘had’ a licence doesn’t automatically entitle you to drive in other countries.

This has been my argument since he was initially caught drink driving but court case is not until Feb 2013 and has resigned from job in Ireland and taken a similar role in UK hence my question.

Some reading

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/mutual_recognition_of_driving_disqualification/

If he has been banned or had his licence revoked then they shouldn’t be driving, full stop.
If his job requires him to drive, then somebodies been telling porkies.

So in the UK at least if you are stopped by the police and give a positive breath sample, you go to jail for the night and get your car back in the morning.

You still have a license up to the point when you go to court and they take your license away. This is the same for any driving offence that would / could result in a ban.

If the Irish system is in anyway similar then I guess your friend will still hold his Irish license until its taken by the courts.

If he moves to the UK before the court date and doesn’t appear at his trial then I assume they would just test the case in his absence and remove his license anyway.

Once his Irish license is revoked he wouldn’t be legally allowed to drive in the UK

Interesting one. I don’t know the answer – but what for example is the situation where you get a ban for being over a limit in a specific country, where that limit is lower than others. eg: Poland you could get a ban for 0.02%, whereas that would be legal in Holland (0.05%)

The only way round it would be to take a British driving test. If he applied to transfer to a British licence before his case he *might* get away with no note being recorded against him yet administratively. If caught though I imagine it wouldn’t be rosey- but who knows?

This is why your friend shouldn’t muck around. If he was to have an accident in the UK and it transpired that he was recently banned for DUI I imagine he’d do abit of porridge.

He needs to seek Legal advice, surely his solicitor will be up to speed on this? Seems a bit strange coming on stw to ask

If you’ve broken a countries law then you are banned. It’s the fact you’ve broken the law that’s important.

Also if he doesn’t turn up in court they will impose an interim ban and then there will be a warrant out for his arrest there is no way out and he will have to serve his ban. Eg if the interim ban last 6 months, and he finally appears in court he will still have to serve the ban minus whatever the interim ban is. I know this from personal experience when I was very young & stupid!

Foreign drivers simply have their licence recognised as valid by the UK authorities (as do we when driving abroad), so if he has no licence to drive from his “home” licencing authority, he has no licence to drive anywhere.

Is my understanding anyway.