Not with me they weren’t - I got one for less than 3 months but accidentally sent the original from 195-mumble and they accepted it 
Oh brilliant, I’ll get him to send in what we already have then!
That’s a fortuitous position to be in…but if it’s a property address of say some years ago and you are unknown to the current occupiers then that’s a different proposition
Are you absolutely certain of this? The Exchange of a driver’s license obtained in Europe (which also covers pre-2021 U.K. DLs) section of the service-public site features this
and just underneath
Which suggests to me that perhaps there is a way, if you register your old one as lost with the gendarmes perhaps, have a scan of the lost one, and pay, you may be able to exchange a lost pre-2021 U.K. DL for a french one.
Of course french bureaucracy being what it is I am probably being far too hopeful, but I just thought it was worth highlighting what the site says… 
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@kirsteastevenson …thats very interesting that you can declare that an existing one is lost, I assume that this declaration is equally valid for a UK as well as French.
I guess the crunch will be when you try to get a French licence…having lost UK one, but with the UK one having more than six months to run as under the recently agreed deal ANTS will not exchange licences with more than six months to run.
Maybe easiest is to get the replacement for the lost one sent to the address which is on it and then hope the occupiers of the address will send it on…and as its not a licence renewal just a replacement bit of plastic shouldn’t break DVLA none residency rule.
That’s exactly what my partner did when he lost his…
If the license has expired you will have to apply to DVLA for a replacement and then you have up to 12 months to exchange it for a French License. One of the documents you do have to provide on the online application, is a copy of your old license and if it has expired then it’s likely your application will be rejected and you will be told to apply to your place of issue. The non residency rule is now bizarre; as the agreement struck between the UK govt. and the French govt. requires that your license is valid until expiry and you should only exchange it for a french one if you a) were issued with a license after january 1st 2021 or b) within six months of expiry. So it would follow that having a UK address on your license would not be possible. Most people use a member of the family or a friend’s address in the UK.
I understand that this is not the case and they are accepting the photo card being out of date (actual licence is 2040). It is illegal to claim you are living in the UK in order to get a new DL.
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If you are not a UK resident this is illegal!
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I agree @toryroo . Certainly at the moment they are accepting out-of-date photocards. Whether this will continue or not who knows of course. It seems to be a realistic concession relating to the impossibility of exchanging UK licences for French ones over the past few years,
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In the case that ANTS are processing things so slowly that it looks unlikely that a licence will be exchanged before the expiry date. Is it possible to:
- Go to a local ANTS office - are there any?
- Renew licence with DVLA if address that driving licence is issued to you still have a connection with?
I think the short answer is “no” @Mat_Davies . In theory the local France Service outlets dealing with most government-type stuff can help but there is only one ANTS place as far as I know. Nantes, I think.
On the plus side, however, all the evidence seems to show that they are now processing things very quickly and are focussing on expired/soon-to-expire licences. Certainly mine came back extremely quickly (and having been waiting for years in the various incarnations ANTS has had, I wasn’t at all hopeful and had been looking at sans permis cars )
Added: Your point no 2 is definitely illegal, as @JaneJones mentioned. Whereas the govt services in the UK haven’t in the past, been at all joined up, I certainly wouldn’t rely on getting away with that now. Not with the focus on tracking down foreigners, dodgy or otherise!
@AngelaR is absolutely right and like hers my exchange was quickly and very efficiently processed getting the temporary attestation within about six weeks and the plastic one before my uk one expired.
The problem it would seem arises if for any reason you need to get a replacement uk (lost?) one before it reaches a date six months before expiry at which point ANTS will proceed with an exchange.
And I would agree that making a false declaration is risky, data bases are increasingly joined up…say they run you details against the HMRC data and up pops the fact you are a French tax payer 
As many have said its illegal to renew a UK license if you are not a UK resident - Although I can understand why some are doing so.
My advice would be to join the facebook group ( Applying for a French Driving Licence) - Kim Cranstoun runs it. She assisted me in helping an older friend who’s license only had five months duration left on the photo card - once he had applied, I sent her the application number and she has a regular contact with CERT who process the applications. Within two days my friend had an update to send his old card in swap for his new one - now waiting for the french one to arrive.
That is exactly what I said Jane. ‘’ If the license has expired you will have to apply to DVLA for a replacement then you have up to 12 months to exchange it for a French License (!)’
It may be counter intuitive. But I do know that they are not accepting out of date photocards and they will refer you back to the state of issue. As I said, the Agreement made in July states that all holders of a UK license will be able to use that license until expiry and exchange within six months of expiry. You have, by law, in the UK to change your address to your current residence and you cannot do that (by law) if that residence is in a foreign country. It follows that there is an anomaly that is trounced by the Agreement. That is why when you apply for renewal you have to give an address in the UK which is accessible to you. It’s bonkers - but that is the anomaly that has been thrown up by the process. The only thing I can suggest is that you go onto the ANTS online form with all your documents ready and go through the process. You can log on through AMELI or create a new account. You will get an immediate acceptance or rejection with a reason. My husband’s application was rejected first time because he mistakenly ticked the expired box by accident. We created a new application (the option was to go through a protracted process by mail with evidence) and that was accepted.
What you are saying is contrary to expert advisers such as Kim Cranston. I suggest people stick to her advice.
DH has the ability to drive a small bus / truck on his UK licence and he doesn’t want to loose that. Does anyone know if that is correct that he needs a medical to do this? I thought that was only for HGV drivers but ANTS has come up saying that he needs one, I wondered if maybe he had ticked something incorrect or if in fact he has to if he wants to keep it? If he does need one can our normal doctor do it or does he need to go somewhere special?
He needs a medical for these categories there’s info on ANTS site about which doctors.
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