Driving Licence for Trailers

Bonjour fellow SF folks . . . .
Does anyone have experience of towing large trailers (over 2MT carry weight) on UK driving licence in France ?
Secondly when one converts the UK licence to French one, do the same towing categories get transferred with it ??
My UK licence covers me for large trailers and up to 7.5mt lorry.
Many thanks in advance for your advice.

I was asked whether I wanted to keep several categories, and if so I needed to get a medical check. So they don’t all transfer automatically.

But if you are under 70 and have more than 6 months to run on your licence you can’t exchange a UK licence at the moment. But it remains valid to drive here.

Teeny weeny typo that makes all the difference…'t

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If you have B+E on your UK licence it now transfers to your French one without the need for a medical (this was a change a few years back, as you used to have a medical for B+E).
Driving licence categories are the same throughout the EU (& the UK until they decide to deviate in some fit of post-brexit “freedom”).

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That’s weird. I swapped my license about a year ago via the ANTS website and it made me go for a medical to keep some categories. No option, dossier incomplete without the medical. :thinking:

Hmmm, maybe different though. That was to still be able to drive small trucks and 12-seater minibuses…

Correct. If you have C, C1, or D (& +E versions of those categories) then a medical is required to keep them when you exchange your licence, & then every 5 years once you reach 40, then 2 yearly at 60, & yearly from 76.

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That’s because you are young Greg. In another thread on here about trailers it was explained that bigger weights and trailers were kept without any action being needed for licences held for a long time

I have no answer to the above, long ago dispensed with anything but light vehicles, but it is as well to mention that, in an exchange it is wise to check that everything you are entitled to has indeed been transferred.

After I changed mine in '99, obligatory because I was driving HGVs, it was some years before I realised that they had omitted my large m/bike entitlement, but instead given me a PSV one, even though I had never driven a bus. :astonished:

Happily, my biker days were long behind me and I had no intention of driving a bus, although, when somebody told me, after I retired, that the local company were looking for a school bus driver, I did look at it. Which is when I discovered the error. :laughing:

Many thanks @Badger this is helpful. My current UK licence expires Aug 2022 so I will need to change but wanted to check if towing a large trailer was legal with my current licence. I am old so have a list including A, B1, B, C1, D1, BE, CE1, DE1 and would want to keep these on my French Licence.

As I understand it, you need a medical to retain C’s and D’s but they do ask for it on the exchange website so they should transfer ok… :thinking: