THE Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have not been included in a recent agreement which allows UK driving licence holders in Spain to swap them within six months for a Spanish licence without having to take a theory and driving test.

In neighbouring Portugal, anybody registering for residency from those Crown Dependencies can swap licences within 90 days without taking a test.

The UK Department of Transport has said they hope to get a deal with Spain to sort out the Crown Dependencies.

It is not a new issue as for many years prior to Brexit, driving licences from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man were regarded as non-EU licences and therefore could not be exchanged for a Spanish licence unless a test was taken.

Tristan Dodd, Jersey’s head of transport, told the Jersey Evening Post that Crown Dependencies were not included in UK-Spain negotiations because Spain needed ‘more time’ for consideration.

‘It is appreciated that this is a frustrating situation, but work is continuing, with the support of the UK government and colleagues in our External Relations team, to include Jersey and the other Crown Dependencies in the agreement,” said Dodd.

The irony is that the Dependencies accept licences from EU and non-EU countries, but Spain has not reciprocated, with tourists from those territories having to obtain an international drivers permit, while residents have to go through all the Spanish driving test procedures to get a local driving licence.

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