10314 Motorbikes in Italy

Hi,

I know that, strictly speaking, it is no longer necessary to exchange a UK driving licence when one moves to Italy, assuming that it's a photocard licence. However, I believe that there is (or was, unless they've changed the regs) an advantage to making the exchange. I believe that that it used to be the case that UK citizens who passed their UK car test (B licence) before 1986 acquired the right to have a full unrestricted Class 'A' motorcycle added to their licence when exchanging it for an Italian licence, i.e., in the same way that italians who had passed their 'B' test before 1986 could drive any size motorbike.

Does anyone know if this is still the case?

I sent ACI an e-mail to try to find out but they sent me a very strange reply to the effect that all applications were assessed on their own merits at the time of application. Does the law really work like that in Italy? Even Adriana , accustomed to the weird ways of Italian bureacrats, was taken aback at this reply. She knew they could be awkward, but didn't think they could make things up as they went along - especially not the law .

This same answer covered a query in the same e-mail about the other classes on my licence. Because I passed my licence a long, long time ago, I've got other 'ratings' on my licence (for private use only) including: C1 & C1E for 7.5 tonnes with trailers and D1 & D1E for large minibuses with trailers.

If I exchange my licence does anyone know whether I can get these put on my Italian licence?

Cheers,

Geraint

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 03:38

Sorry, Geraint, but it would appear that you don't acquire a bike license during conversion - leastways, I didn't when my license was converted some 5 years ago now. I have the following groups listed:
B
C (74)
BE
CE (76)
..and that's all. Pretty much exactly the same as my old UK one - although without the provisional HGV entitlement (fair enough).

You are right that you don't need to convert your license to an Italian one if you have a plastic UK one - although my understanding is that if you have a pink paper one - without the photograph - you still must convert to a photo license after 12 months residency here.

A previous discussion is here:
[url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/general-chat-about-italy/8635-uk-driving-licence-transfer-italian-licence-2.html[/url]

When you convert, it is worth pointing out, your existing points (surely not!) don't get converted.It might be handy for some...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 05:05

Thanks Nardini,

Shame about that. I suppose I'll have to do the test here then. I used to ride in my late teens/early 20s but never bothered with the test. As I got older the attractions of getting soaking wet and cold seemed to wane somewhat! :laughs: However, riding in Italy is a bit more appealing, so I'll bite the bullet re. the appalling cost of training in the UK (roughly £500 for the 4 day direct Access course) and the fact that it'll probably be a very uncomfortable and wet 4 days, and get on with it.

Not bothered about the HGV entitlement, - the 7.5 tonne entitlement on my current licence will be sufficient for me to rent a truck and get our stuff down to Italy.

Cheers,

Geraint.