Calling out to @kim or anyone else who can help.
Long story short, am hoping my husband will very soon be in a position to renew his French driving licence. When he does, he would like to renounce the HGV categories which he was - mistakenly we think - assigned when he swapped his ancient UK licence for a French one over 5 years ago.
Is there a standard wording he should use for the “renonciation”? Also, a friend who did this a few years ago said she was told at the time that she should write out the “attestation de renonciation” by hand.
Is that still/really the case?
I have no idea of the answer to your question, but my question is, why would he want to? It doesn’t cost anything, it just sits there doing nothing for year after year and. when he gets to the age of 60 (I think) he loses them automatically if he doesn’t go and get a health check.
I retired from HGV driving at 60 but every 2 years for the next decade I took the (laughable) health check with an approved doctor ‘just in case’. Then I no longer bothered and the entitlements gradually disappeared of their own accord.
I can understand the mistake at his first swap though. Never having driven a bus I was mistakenly given bus entitlement the first time but also mysteriously lost my motor bike one, which fortunately didn’t bother me at all.
A more serious error by the sub prefecture was that they failed to return my UK licence to Swansea which meant that when I reached 70 and didn’t take a health test in the UK, they thought I had given up driving altogether which cost me almost an hour on a wet 4am roadside in Cornwall with a police patrol who thought I didn’t have a licence at all. This in spite of the French EU permis that they were holding in their hands at the time. I was ony allowed to continue because they couldn’t check directly with Swansea at that hour of the day.
DVLC are useless. BIL had to stop driving HGV’s for over a year after a reaction to two jabs given the same morning which in turn caused his heart to change rythmn meaning he had to have a pacemaker fitted. He was given all clear to resume driving but DVLC refused him a licence, but after several weeks of trying to make contact it was discovered they had confused him with another driver with the same name - you couldn’t make it up!
Hi Helen, even if he renounces them they will remain on his licence and can reactivate at any time in the future with another medical.
Here’s the letter, amend to suit his details and upload in the 7 additional documents that you can add to support his application.
He must sign the letter.
He will get a 15 year photocard this time.
When applications were done many moons ago by the prefecture, a lot were just issued what was on the licence being exchanged without a medical. This then changed to all but with a medical.
If you were able to exchange your heavy categories pre Brexit you get to keep them. By renouncing them they stay on your licence but dormant and can be reactivated at any time with a medical.
If you passed your bike test pre 75 then I have a letter issued by the DVLA that I have permission to share with you if you wish to have A reinstated.
I had exactly that situation. The problem with having a HGV class on your French driving license is that it has an expiry date which needs a medical before renewing. I could not find how to renounce it on ANTS .
My solution was to use one of the officially registered agents dotted around France who deal with cartes grise and permits. You can actually discuss your queries with a real person who will have dealt with similar cases and can chase up delays and print off attestations etc.
Thanks David but I can’t face having to deal with ANTS again in another 5 years. I won’t go into the boring details but basically since his French licence expired last winter, he’s been completely stuck because he holds a special residence permit.
Hopefully a European passport is winging its way to him as we speak so that will get round the problem.
Interesting. So to confirm, if I take a medical my dormant categories can be revived?
Not withstanding the time frame to book a medical if I pass that what do I need to do to update my licence and how long does it take?
Yes correct. You apply for a new French licence (same procedure regardless what you are doing), you will select expiry of licence, it’s fairly straightforward, you say yes to medical.
You’ll need medical
Utility bill unless your address is auto found
ID - CdS if you are required to hold one
Copy of current licence.
I quite understand that but what I can’t understand is why not having HGV entitlement changes that. You simply let it expire and don’t take a medical.
Just dug out my own licence (and a magnifying glass). Strangely my moto licence seems to have been restored, not that in a million years would I want to ride one again though (way too dangerous, no seat belts ), and all I am left with is the cars, with or without caravans.
Although my buses were taken away there is a code (103) against the largest type. No idea what that means.
But the point I’m making is, although all my HGVs remain listed they all expired in 2015, presumably when I stopped the silly medicals.
Standing on one leg with my eyes closed, fell over every time
Told I was blind when I couldn’t read the eye chart, so told to put my reading glasses on. All OK.
Finger in right ear next to doctor facing the other way on that side and whispering a word. Couldn’t hear a thing. Dr.'s friend was there and could hear him and, as the doc was facing away from him he mouthed the word to me. Passed.
Worth the money just for the entertainment value, I do miss it sometimes.
If he renounces the categories now , his next photocard will be good for 15 years.
If he keeps the HGV categories, his new French photocard licence will expire in 5 years (just as his current French licence did, after 5 years).
Unless I’ve completely misunderstood how this works.
I can beat that. When my husband was finally able to join me from the Soviet Union, he came to Belfast and immediately learnt how to drive. He could speak some English but couldn’t be bothered to learn the Highway Code. We told the examination centre he needed an interpreter and there was no one available apart from myself (there were very few Russians in Belfast in the 80s). So I swotted up the Code the night before, sat in the back of the car during the test and then, er, “translated” the questions and his replies.
He had the cheek to be furious because I got one wrong.
I’m no expert but I think you have. My current licence was renewed in 2018 and expires in 2033 (15 years) despite the fact that it still shows all my HGV categories which had already expired in 2015. If you are right how come my licence did not expire after 5 years, because of all the expired classes still upon it?
But I agree that the whole thing is mired in mystery and contradiction because my first swap of all classes was made when I started work here in December 1999 and was said to be for life. It must have had the 2015 expiry of the HGV portions on it because it paniced me into thinking I had missed the expiry until my insurance company, who had a copy, said all was OK. I can only assume that I renewed in 2018 just to be on the safe side, or in ignorance, but, as I say, they still didn’t remove the expired classes from it.
Hmmm. So maybe the reason they gave my husband (and another British colleague) a 5-year licence last time was because he had just swapped and this was his first French licence?
And you think that if he does the medical, this time they will give him a 15-year licence, which would continue to be valid even if we let the HGV categories lapse in a few years’ time.
Not sure if you said how old he is but, no, I wasn’t saying that. I was saying that in my case I definitely stopped doing the medicals and I still got a 15 year licence. Also the fact that all my expired HGV classes are still to this day on it, proves that they were aware of that.
This in spite of the French EU permis that they were holding in their hands at the time. I was ony allowed to continue because they couldn’t check directly with Swansea at that hour of the day.
), and all I am left with is the cars, with or without caravans.