Soutpeel Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) To all you guys that say a Thai 1 year driving licence is not a FULL licence - HOW DO YOU KNOW? The DVLA cannot answer the question so I really cannot see how you know. Ask yourself this question....why in Thailand will they not issue an IDP based on a 1 year Thai DL, but only the 5 year variety ?....does this not infer a 1 year Thai DL is not to be used outside Thailand ?.... The DVLA will not know...its not a UK license, ask them about UK licensing questions and they will gladly answer, but this is a Thai licensing question..... your asking the question in the wrong place, go and ask the traffic department in Thailand, they will tell you what you can and cant do.. And before someone retorts you dont need a IDP with the new Thai DL's in the UK ie the 5 year variety because its in English, thats not the point I am getting at....fact is there is a difference between the a Thai 1 and a 5 year (not just the validity) Edited January 15, 2013 by Soutpeel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 To all you guys that say a Thai 1 year driving licence is not a FULL licence - HOW DO YOU KNOW? It says on the license, in Thai, that it's a temporary license. The DVLA cannot answer the question so I really cannot see how you know. Does it really come as any surprise that the UK DVLA can't asnwer a question about a Thai drivers license that is written in Thai! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durhamboy Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 To all you guys that say a Thai 1 year driving licence is not a FULL licence - HOW DO YOU KNOW? It says on the license, in Thai, that it's a temporary license. The DVLA cannot answer the question so I really cannot see how you know. Does it really come as any surprise that the UK DVLA can't asnwer a question about a Thai drivers license that is written in Thai! It says Temporary NOT Provisional. Therefore it is only limited by time as many FULL licences are. The real fact is that neither you, nor anyone else in this forum knows the answer. It is quite a leap from saying "I dont think it is a full licence" (which is a fair enough comment) to "It isnt a full licence". If you are going to make statements of fact then be sure of your facts before you do so. Furthermore the DVLA dont know when they should know. Their website has specific sections for the validity of foreign licences and also specific queries on foreign licences. There they just say that a Thai licence is valid for a resident to use and they dont differentiate between 1 year and 5 year licences. As for you other guys having a pop at Thai driving abilities. Well you are probably right that the standard of driving is not as good as UK but you can say that for a lot of countries where licences are issued without time limit and they can then go and drive on UK roads (as visitors or residents). Yes the number of accidents here in Thailand is horrendous but I think that a very large percentage of those involve motor bikes. The actual standard of driving cars is not that bad in my opinion. Anyway I've decided to take the advice of 7x7 and not "let her loose" on the UK roads with a 1 year Thai licence. So thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 To all you guys that say a Thai 1 year driving licence is not a FULL licence - HOW DO YOU KNOW? It says on the license, in Thai, that it's a temporary license. The DVLA cannot answer the question so I really cannot see how you know. Does it really come as any surprise that the UK DVLA can't asnwer a question about a Thai drivers license that is written in Thai! It says Temporary NOT Provisional. Therefore it is only limited by time as many FULL licences are. The real fact is that neither you, nor anyone else in this forum knows the answer. It is quite a leap from saying "I dont think it is a full licence" (which is a fair enough comment) to "It isnt a full licence". If you are going to make statements of fact then be sure of your facts before you do so. Furthermore the DVLA dont know when they should know. Their website has specific sections for the validity of foreign licences and also specific queries on foreign licences. There they just say that a Thai licence is valid for a resident to use and they dont differentiate between 1 year and 5 year licences. As for you other guys having a pop at Thai driving abilities. Well you are probably right that the standard of driving is not as good as UK but you can say that for a lot of countries where licences are issued without time limit and they can then go and drive on UK roads (as visitors or residents). Yes the number of accidents here in Thailand is horrendous but I think that a very large percentage of those involve motor bikes. The actual standard of driving cars is not that bad in my opinion. Anyway I've decided to take the advice of 7x7 and not "let her loose" on the UK roads with a 1 year Thai licence. So thanks for the advice. There is no equivelent word in Thai meaning provisional, the word "temporary" is as close as you get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eff1n2ret Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Yes the number of accidents here in Thailand is horrendous but I think that a very large percentage of those involve motor bikes. The actual standard of driving cars is not that bad in my opinion. I agree with that. I seem to remember seeing a statistic that 2/3rds of the road deaths are motor cyclists. Of course it may be argued that many of those are the victims of bad driving by motorists, but IMHO the utter lack of discipline and failure to observe simple precautions like (in many areas) not wearing helmets makes such a figure inevitable. I find driving in Thailand (Bangkok and sometimes Pattaya excepted) much less stressful than driving in the UK - Thais seem to lack any powers of anticipation and their reactions are slow, but they are far less prone to displays of the self-righteous aggression typical of many British drivers. Hardly ever do I hear horns beeping or see fists being waved here. If you're prepared to take the rough with the smooth and laugh at the occasional imbecility, you get along fine, and of course being able to park pretty much where you like for free, turn left on a red light, have traffic lights at most junctions switched off after 9pm all make me 'jai yen yen'. I don't envy your missis taking up driving in the UK. Whatever Thai licence she takes there, 1 year or 5 year, she could only use it for a year, so she might as well bite the bullet and get a provisional licence and lessons as soon as possible. Or as another recent thread revealed, you could take her to live in Belgium, where she could could simply swap the Thai licence for a Belgian one, and drive anywhere in Europe.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Sata Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) I'd like to see a Thai driver with no UK experience in conditions like this today in eastern England. I must say I'm looking forward to being back in Thailand next week for a couple of months. Edited January 15, 2013 by Jay Sata Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) It says Temporary NOT Provisional. Therefore it is only limited by time as many FULL licences are. . Go and look up synonyms of "provisional", = Temporary, Interim, conditional etc.....provisional/temporary mean the same thing in English... The full Thai DL is time limited...... to 5 years, if a 1 year Thai DL is full license, why is there a 5 year one then ? Edited January 15, 2013 by Soutpeel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eff1n2ret Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 , if a 1 year Thai DL is full license, why is there a 5 year one then ? That's the 64000 Dollar question, because you don't get even the 1-year licence without passing the full test, and there is no further test to convert from 1-year to 5-year licence, so arguably someone who holds a 1-year Thai licence is no different from a UK full licence-holder. Maybe there's some provision in Thai law that if you are convicted of a driving offence within the first year you automatically have to take the test again - pure speculation on my part, perhaps there's a Thai contributor who knows more about this. This is just an expat forum speculating about an aspect of Thai law of which we apparently know very little. The OP asked a question to which nobody could supply an authoritative answer, and he then did his best to answer it himself by going to the DVLA, and they don't know either. Indeed, there's another thread running about the validity of and ability to renew UK expats' driving licences about which there's similar speculation and confusion because the DVLA's information isn't clear. So the barrack-room lawyers take charge and threads like this end up going round in circles. Entertaining, perhaps, but in the end not much help to anybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldgit Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 So the barrack-room lawyers take charge and threads like this end up going round in circles. Entertaining, perhaps, but in the end not much help to anybody. Indeed, nobody really knows and I agree we are going round in circles, so I think it's safe to close the thread. If anybody manages to get a definitive answer from the DLVA and wants to reopen the thread, feel free to make contact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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