Medical / Spain

chesterfield hooligan

Expat drivers in Spain required to take medical test
PUBLISHED: January 16, 2013 at 5:04 pm • LAST EDITED: January 16, 2013 at 5:56 pm
Andalucia, Lead2 • 10 Comments







NEW laws forcing expat drivers to undergo a medical examination will come into place later this week.
The EU Directive 2012/126, which starts from January 19, will mean that all British drivers in Spain under the age of 65 will have to take a medical every 10 years.
Drivers over 65 however, will be required to take the test every five years.
The medical examination will be a sight, hearing and co-ordination test in the form of a computer based driving simulation.
Drivers can keep their UK licence, but must notify the DVLA of their Spanish residency and still be able to declare a UK address as their permanent residence.
According to the new directive, a permanent residence is a place where a person usually lives for at least 185 days of the year.
Conversion to a Spanish licence can be completed at the time of taking the medical examination however, should expat drivers wish to do so


what do you think

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FM02MZO

I agree with it.

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Regards Terry Birch
Drives an Autotrail Mohican

sedge

I don't have a problem with it whatsoever.

I think the UK ought to introduce it as well - I mean for all of us, not just furriners. I presume Spaniards have to have this? as I don't think they could do it otherwsie cos of the EU????

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Jenny

Momo

Yes, we Spaniards also have to have this test and ..... it's a doddle!! (I was absolutely useless as just six weeks previously I had had a double cataract operation! They kept saying I was getting it all wrong because of the op!)

I'm now 66 and classed as a "Spaniard by marriage" and have been doing this for the last 5-6 years!

Apparently it will be introduced throughout the EU. Don't worry .... they want you to pass! (I do it for free on my Medifiatc private medical insurance - 70 € per month!)

Momo

P.S. Do it in Spain!

sedge

The thing that worries me is the length of time it takes here to get your license renewed in medical cases to begin with as the DVLA are so inefficient, from sending out the wrong set of forms to begin with to the finish. Took me from October 2011 till July 2012 to get my 3 year license, due to expire in January 2012, renewed !

First they needed my consultant to fill a great long form in, that was all about the thing I actually have wrong with me, but they've never checked it before, just accepted what I said was the truth. I have no problem with that but they require it done inside 4 weeks. Hospital told em the truth - there's at least a 12 week delay for that clinic, there are really SICK people that take priority, this is just a flipping nuisance.

Eventually that got done but along the way of the million phone calls, I did discover the form COULD AT MY OPTION have been done by my GP. Well why didn't they say that on the letter they sent me, then? Only have to wait a fortnight for that usually.

Then - because I said (originally in the October) Yes I apparently have cataracts forming, however they don't affect my sight and Optician says it could be another 20 years before they ever do - they had me down the driving test centre, to read a number plate. That took MONTHS for them to even tell the test centre. Then after another 6 or 7 weeks, they decided they needed a visual acuity test from my optician. My optician hadn't done one for about a million years because it's been a good while since I could usefully read much beyond the top line without ANY glasses. So we then had to arrange that.


Meanwhile they tell you it's still legal to drive in the UK but can't tell you if it is or isn't, elsewhere in the EU .....

Never mind - I expect they'll employ someone renowned for their super-efficiency to do this - like ATOS for instance ...........

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Jenny

Don Quixote

We have lived in Spain for well over a year now and have already changed or licenses over, however to keep my cat C1 I had to complete the medical, which as already stated was easy. I have been told that to keep the cat C1 I will have to complete the test every year because of the meds I'm on for blood pressure.

Our MH is Spanish and at the moment is 3500, however I now want to up grade it to 4200 just have to find out how to do this. Hence the cat C1.

John

teddybard

If its a legal requirement.
There you go.
Hopefully anyone on the Spanish system properly
wont be affected too much.

also has the benefit that for those who are illegally using both countries
another trapdoor closes and who knows the HMC&R may catch up on a few
making false claims etc.

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