London to SA with UK bike and French passport?
 

Hi all,

I'm in the very first steps of organizing a ride from London to Capetown and I have the following plan and questions in light to my situation:

Plan:
1/ to buy a bike in the UK to save money due to the very low exchange rate of Brittish pound.
2/ Make the canet here in the UK and drive down south
3/ sell the bike in Capetown

My situation:
- French passeport and driving licence (french address on them)
- Living in the UK but just have a UK electricity bill under my name to prove it

Questions:
- Can I register the bike with my UK adress and can I have a UK carnet for the bike?
- Will I be able to cross borders with UK (with my UK adress) and French passport and driving licence?

Many thanks for your possible insight,
Laurent

Londen to Cape Town
 

Hi Laurent

I will not be able to help you with the documentation on the European side but I have done a trip from Cape Town to Londen .
I do have alot of info on Visas ,Border crossings,Equipment, do and donts etc...
So if you require any info please go and visit our web at X-Ing (Crossing) Africa Motorbike Adventure or reply on this message.

Good luck
Stephen

Laurent, I'm the exact opposite of you, a Brit, living in France, with a British passport and British drivers licence, and a French registered bike.

As far as I've been able to find out the most important thing is that the names and numbers all match up. I'm guessing your licence has your photo on it, so that helps a great deal as long as you look roughly the same now as you did then.

I don't know about carnets though, but I'd presume as this is Europe and it's all supposed to be vaguely linked now, that it shouldn't be a problem.

You could of course always exchange your French licence for a British one, but that would mean you'd have the driving restrictions at 70, unless you swapped back of course.

Or, if you've got the time I suppose you could come back to France and register your bike here before setting off? Do you have parents here? They can give you their EdF bill can't they, I know when I first came here mine did, for me to re-register a British car. Then all your major documents would be French. There is the TVA to pay, but given the current weak pound, you'd still make a profit.

Thanks for your infos Alex,

Do ou confirm I can just switch for a UK driving licence without having to pass a test in the UK?

I 'd rather want not to go through the hassle of having to put the bike to french specifications to register it there.

Cheers mate

Yes, it's all on the DVLA website, and as a national of a member state of the European Union you have the right to swap your licence for that of another member state if you're resident there.

Easy, but why you'd want to I don't know, a French licence is for life a British one needs renewal at 70.