Statement

WEIR AND LESLIE WELCOME CHANGES IN DRIVER LICENSE REGONITION LAW 

Posted on: September 28, 2009

“We welcome the introduction of the proposed Motor Vehicle (Exchangeable Licenses) Order which has this week been introduced by the Department of the Environment. This legislation will end long standing discrimination against a number of residents in Northern Ireland. There has been a loophole in the law, which in effect means that people living in Northern Ireland, but who obtained their driving license in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and Zimbabwe, have not had these licenses properly recognised in Northern Ireland, and been unable to have these licenses transferred to a Northern Ireland driving license. This has been a discriminatory anomaly as people who have obtained a license in any of these countries, have been able to transfer their license if they live in the rest of the UK. While this measure is mainly aimed at people from a number of current or former Commonwealth countries, the 15 nations mentioned in the legislation also covers countries such as Japan and Switzerland.

We have both been contacted by a number of people from these countries who suffered this peculiar form of jurisdictional disadvantage, and during the summer we made representations to the Environment Minister Edwin Poots MLA. We are glad to see such swift and decisive action by the Minister, and we welcome his action. This legislation which will be passing through the Assembly shortly will take effect on 12th October 2009. From that point on these Northern Ireland residents will at last be on a level playing field with their counterparts living on the mainland.”