Hi Kim can I ask you a question. My wife and I have completed the UK driving licence swap on the ANTS website. We waited four months and now have a request for the DVLA code which we have done but the ANTS website says that a document is missing and won’t let us continue until that document is uploaded.
However we can’t see that anything is missing and the site doesn’t say what is missing. Do you have any idea what they are after or how we can find out. Is it possible that they have to acknowledge the receipt and validity of the DVLA code before we can proceed.
Do we need a thread where people can post suggestions for rude language, insults or other expressions of dissatisfaction, in French?
In English I struggle to know many words in bad language because I am simply too nice and was well brought up !
Well, that’s my story anyway. But in French I simply lack the vocabulary and wish we could have a “sin bin” of vocabulary to draw on. With someone’s indication of the level of uncouthness of each option suggested and any situations where someone felt they were effectively, or even just satisfyingly, used.
The section with the date to be done by requires a document uploaded in it, it can be a blank piece of paper, just stick another copy of the DVLA pdf in it, then validate.
Any extra section added on ANTS either by you or by ANTS when they require more info, has to have a document uploaded even if it’s a blank piece of paper, so that you can validate the application. The section extra is the date to be done by request, there is no other way to request this information so it’s added as a section. Yes mad but not an error or bug.
I’d be cautious about relying on Copilot’s answer as confirmation of the legal position. The French attestation confirms that the exchange is in progress and, according to GOV.UK, allows you to drive in France while waiting for your French licence. However, it does not necessarily mean that it acts as a temporary UK driving licence.
The key distinction is between your underlying driving entitlement and the physical UK photocard. As the UK licence has been surrendered for exchange, I would want confirmation from DVLA that your GB driving entitlement remains active before driving in the UK.
You can check the information DVLA currently holds on your driving record and, where appropriate, <link redacted> to share your licence details.
I would also be careful about the January 2026 photocard expiry. The fact that the underlying driving entitlement runs until 2033 does not necessarily mean that the physical photocard remains valid after its own expiry date.
Your French attestation, photocopy of the UK licence and previous photocard are all useful documents to carry. However, I would not treat them alone as confirmation that you are legally entitled to drive in Great Britain.
Before making the journey by car, I would contact DVLA directly for confirmation and check with your insurer as well, particularly because the UK licence has already been surrendered as part of the French exchange.
Thanks for your comments. You may not have seen (now over a year ago!) that there was a happy ending ie I received my French replacement licence in time for a UK trip. However I would still definitely have proceeded with the trip - in the absence of a French licence as (in addition to carrying multiple documents explaining the situation) the DVLA check system at all times showed me as having a valid UK licence. In fact it continued to do so for many weeks afterwards, long after I’d received my French licence!
I also contacted my French insurer (Pacifica) who couldn’t have been less concerned. Their view was that as long as I had a valid licence, be it French or UK, I was covered as far as they were concerned.
