Frustration amongst holders of British driving licences in Spain who’ve been left unable to take to the roads since Might 1 seems to be reaching boiling level, with a few of these affected having joined a Fb web page known as “Invasion of the British embassy in Madrid”.
In keeping with the web page, which was created earlier this month and counts on 358 members, the goal of the group “is to organise an indication on the British Embassy in Madrid concerning the issue of the trade of British licences in Spain”. The web page makes clear that “any violence or requires violence won’t be tolerated”.
The exasperation of these affected by the difficulty, nonetheless, is evident for all to see within the feedback. “It’s so irritating if you attempt to do issues by the ebook after which get punished as if we had ignored every part,” complained Edward Lambert in response to a submit from The Olive Press inviting suggestions.
In truth, six emails have been despatched to our newspaper inside simply two hours on Sunday morning. Christine Asparassa, for instance, wrote to inform a well-recognized story, considered one of administrative issues in exchanging the licences earlier than the deadline, regardless of having taken on the providers of a lawyer.
“We travelled to [our lawyer] in December [2020] and gave her all of the copies of the required paperwork and thought nothing extra of it,” Christine defined. “Now we’ve not been capable of drive for six months. She actually didn’t assist us and we instantly sacked her, as we felt she allow us to down drastically.”
“My husband has terminal most cancers and is steadily staying in hospital for generally two weeks,” complained Elizabeth. “It’s unimaginable for me to go to as I merely can not afford €40 plus a day,” she added, in reference to the price of taxi rides.
Martyn O’Rourke, in the meantime, was extremely essential of the British Embassy in Madrid and its prime diplomat Hugh Elliot. “The ambassador has made no assertion since mid-July, which is a shame,” he complained through electronic mail. “We’ve achieved every part we will to abide by the foundations in Spain, but we’ve been banned from driving.”
An electronic mail from Isra Rojas González additionally confirmed, as soon as once more, that the difficulty is not only restricted to UK residents. “I’m a Spanish nationwide and I maintain a British driving licence, as a result of I handed my exams in Britain,” he wrote. “I got here from Britain a 12 months in the past and this case is affecting [my ability] to search out work in my nation.”
One of many admins of the Fb group, Pascal Siegmund, has been posting common updates on the plans for a protest. Sadly, the truth that lots of the folks affected can not at the moment drive in Spain is complicating their capacity to return from different elements of the nation to Madrid to exhibit.
In keeping with a message posted by Siegmund on Friday, a attainable date for a protest is October 13. An thought has additionally been mooted for a protest outdoors the DGT site visitors authority workplaces within the nation’s provincial capitals.
The present state of affairs arose on Might 1 after a deadline expired, making UK licences invalid for anybody who had been resident for greater than six months in Spain. The deadline had been prolonged 5 instances by Spanish authorities as negotiations dragged on.
Earlier than Brexit, UK automobile possession information was shared with different EU member states. Spain has since requested entry to information for UK-registered autos who’ve dedicated site visitors offences in Spain through an automatic system, as a part of a proper settlement for driving licence trade for UK licence holders. The preliminary sticking level within the negotiations was reported to be that the British authorities needed to maintain the 2 points separate.
Anybody left on this state of affairs can at the moment take a driving take a look at in Spain – one thing that has been sophisticated by value, excessive demand and language points – or look ahead to an settlement between the 2 sides.
The British embassy introduced in late July that the primary textual content for an settlement to permit Brits resident in Spain to swap their licences for Spanish ones had been agreed. However the newest replace, launched on September 16, stated that progress was being made however that they “can’t be definitive in regards to the timescale”.
Chatting with this reporter again in early Might, a spokesperson from the DGT site visitors authority stated {that a} answer would solely be a number of weeks away, one thing that was echoed by a UK authorities spokesperson. However almost 5 months have handed, and the victims of the state of affairs are clearly rising ever-more determined for an answer to be discovered.
READ MORE:
