Renewal of a UK HGV Licence in Finland

shellpink4 · Post by **shellpink4** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:07 pm

Hi,

My husbands HGV licence expires in Feb 2010 and having checked today, he cannot renew it postally, he has to be resident in the UK...which we no longer are.. having been here for five years. If he were resident, he would need to have a doctors medical and the renewal would be free, other than the doctors fee... I have an awful feeling that renewing it here, will incur a heck of a lot more... what isnt expensive in Finland?

He has been told by the UK helpline that he needs to apply for the renewal here in Finland but they didnt have any info on where to do this or how. Our local copshop is a nightmare, so I dont intend on going there as a first port of call, unless I can help it.. I thought I'd come here first!

Has anybody been through the same thing at all?

Thanks... Michelle

**Sponsor:**

raamv · Post by **raamv** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:31 pm

http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/ ... endocument
Is more official than
http://www.expat-finland.com/living_in_ ... iving.html

shellpink4 · Post by **shellpink4** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:37 pm

Thanks for the link!
Well, it doesn't mention HGV as a specific, but it certainly looks like we have a trip to the copshop soon...oh deeeeep joy!

Many thanks, much appreciated.

raamv · Post by **raamv** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:47 pm

I guess its more than the copshop as you are supposed to exchange the license within 18 months of living in Finland..
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38416

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=223

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29030

lionel · Post by **lionel** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:23 pm

It might be worth just trying to change it for a Finnish licence anyway as thats what we did and I kept the same classes as I already had in England..

zetorpilot · Post by **zetorpilot** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:25 pm

Yes I've been through exactly the same thing. He needs to renew his licence at your local police station.

I renewed my HGV licence here about 15 years ago. It was a bit of a hassle - they screwed up the first time and dropped the E entitlement

but I got it sorted in the end.

In short, renew it here, the entitlements are the same throughout the EU, and as a previous poster pointed out it has to be converted to a finnish licence within 18 months anyway.

Note that to work as an HGV driver here from the beginning of next year your husband will need to undertake the drivers' CPC "ammattipätevyys", but I understand this is being enforced in the UK too, so I'm sure he will be familiar with this.

Hope this helps

"Z"
(Full time HGV driver, 60 tonne combination)

dave071061 · Post by **dave071061** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:17 pm

zetorpilot wrote:
as a previous poster pointed out it has to be converted to a finnish licence within 18 months anyway.

Is this specific to HGV licences? as it certainly doesn´t apply to normal car licence.

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:57 pm

dave071061 wrote:Is this specific to HGV licences? as it certainly doesn´t apply to normal car licence.

I think this does apply to cars, but it doesn't tell the whole story. For cars you don't have to change to a Finnish license but you can if you wish. If you do change, and do so within 18 months, you can just exchange your license for a Finnish one. If you change after 18 months you are supposed to take a driving test - but I have seen reports on this forum from people who have changed after 18 months and not been asked to take a test. At least that's the way I understand it, and I suspect the rules may be different for people coming from non-EU countries. No doubt someone will correct me if I am wrong. Personally I have kept my UK license, which is perhaps not the best solution in the long term.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 1:43 pm

DMC wrote:I think this does apply to cars, but it doesn't tell the whole story. For cars you don't have to change to a Finnish license but you can if you wish. If you do change, and do so within 18 months, you can just exchange your license for a Finnish one. If you change after 18 months you are supposed to take a driving test - but I have seen reports on this forum from people who have changed after 18 months and not been asked to take a test. At least that's the way I understand it, and I suspect the rules may be different for people coming from non-EU countries. No doubt someone will correct me if I am wrong. Personally I have kept my UK license, which is perhaps not the best solution in the long term.

http://poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/page ... endocument have no mention about 18 months.

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 1:59 pm

Upphew wrote:http://poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/page ... endocument have no mention about 18 months.

Aha, that is interesting. It seems different to (my memory of) the last time I checked.
The 18 months seems to apply to people with licenses from non-EU countries (that have signed the Geneva or Vienna Road Traffic Convention). This is because such people are entitled to drive on their home license for 1 year, and must apply to exchange their license within 6 months of the end of that period. (Does that mean they can't be driving from the end of the year until they exchange their license?).
For those of us from EU countries it would seem to say that we can drive on our existing license so long as it is valid, and must apply to exchange it for a Finnish license within 6 months of its expiry. If that is so it is better than I thought; I thought I was going to have to take a test when I am 70 and my UK license expires.

zetorpilot · Post by **zetorpilot** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 9:22 pm

Looking at that police page indeed the word "may" is used...

I was certainly told I had to exchange my licence, but back then Finland wasn't part of the EU.

Also note that nowadays the HGV entitlement is on your normal licence, there is no separate licence like there was when I did my HGV test (I still have my brown book though

).

Finland Forum

Find information about moving to, living in and life in Finland