Teens here can do accompanied driving (conduite accompagnée) from 16, but cannot pass a test and therefore drive alone until they turn 18.
I was recently told that if a 17 year old passes a test in the UK, then s/he can drive here legally. I don't think this can be possible, for the following reasons:
1. the UK now requires proof of residency before issuing a provisional driving licence
2. if the 17 year old is resident in France, then surely French law would apply.
Comments, please.
Jacquie
It seems pretty clear to me, my friend can't have her daughter pass her driving test in the UK and then drive in France at 17.
First, the provisional driving licence application form requires the applicant to confirm that s/he is normally resident in the UK, which isn't the case - she lives in France and attends school in France, so couldn't be resident in the UK for 185 days - school holidays here aren't THAT long! Stating UK residency on a provisional driving licence when this isn't the case would be fraud.
If she were to pass her test in the UK and then return to France, she'd be unable to get insurance from a French insurance company, either in her own name or as a named driver.
I've told my friend to forget the whole idea and either continue chauffeuring, or buy a bus pass!
French law does indeed apply.
Anyone holding a UK licence can drive in France for as long as their licence remains valid. The law does not specify under what conditions that licence must be obtained.
With regards to residency requirements, they do not apply to provisional licences.
When you take your UK test, the DSA examiner asks you to sign a declaration that says "I normally live/have lived in the uk for 185 days".
So if a 17-year-old passed their test in the UK, they could drive in France as a full licence holder from the age of 18. Residency would not come into it.
They would also not be subject to rules governing permis probatoires in France (lower speed limits, 6 points instead of 12).
Véro more or less says it. In the EU Green Paper on standardising beginning to drive to 18, which the UK seems happy to go along with in the discussions, it listed ages of provisional licence issue where they exist and also compared ages at which 'qualified' drivers would be insured. The young UK drivers would not meet French insurance standards to begin with, but the lowest age is 18 anyway and in the majority of member countries, so a 17 year old cannot anyway for that reason too and since he or she would have to have the pink European licence which can only be issued to drivers of 18 or above all three points appear to say a definitive NO.
As far as I know you have to fulfil local requirements to drive, wherever you are - so although you may have a full UK driving licence as a 17 year-old you wouldn't be allowed to drive in France until you are 18. A provisional licence is not recognised at all, as far as I know - the requirements aren't at all the same as for conduite accompagnée, where you have to pass the 'code' and have about 20 hours of driving lessons with an instructor before your parent can take you on the road (& there are 2x 2 hour practical+theory sessions with parents on top of the 20 hours of lessons).
My daughter is 17 and does conduite accompagnée with me, but can't drive with me in Germany (where we go regularly) as although the scheme exists there, she isn't registered for it there. I think insurance etc would be invalid were there an accident. I don't think she would be allowed to drive in the UK either.
Got this off Gouv website - 2nd line
Pour être valable en France, le permis de conduire doit remplir toutes les conditions suivantes :
être en cours de validité,
être utilisé par une personne qui a atteint l'âge minimal pour conduire le véhicule de la catégorie équivalente (au moins 18 ans pour le permis B),
être utilisé conformément aux mentions d'ordre médical (port obligatoire de lunettes par exemple) qui y sont inscrites.