Legal to Drive or not?

Help needed please? I am a Spanish resident with a Spanish registered car and Spanish driving licence. I will be moving back to the UK at the end of February 2016. I have received an offer to buy my car from me a day or so before my departure date and sell me a UK Regd vehicle in its place. Such an arrangement is attractive to me but I am not sure whether it would be legal for me as a Spanish resident to take delivery of and drive a UK reg'd vehicle. De-registering as a resident before taking delivery of the car seems a possible way to overcome this but I would need to make the trip home using my Spanish Licence as I will not be able to exchange this for a UK one until I actually arrive back in the UK and get a UK address. However,I have been told by several people that it is illegal for a Spanish non-resident to hold and/or drive a vehicle using a Spanish Licence. Is there a way of dealing with this situation through Trafico which would enable me to legally drive my ‘new’ car back to the UK and change my licence as soon as possible afterwards?

Direct from the DVLA website:

You can drive in Great Britain on a full, valid driving licence from another EU country until you’re 70, or for 3 years after becoming resident in Great Britain, whichever is longer.

.And in any event Spanish law only applies in Spain. Not France or UK. Make an advanced appointment in UK on line for an MOT if you need one and keep a copy.

Thank you for your replies.  I am aware of the rules regarding driving on an EU licence whilst in the UK.   What I was asking is - am I as a Spanish Resident holding a Spanish driving licence legally allowed to drive a British registered car in Spain.  I have been told my a friend that to do so would be breaking the law and if I were to have an accident whilst travelling through Spain en route to the UK my insurance would be invalidated and I could be in trouble with the police.  I am reluctant to swap my Spanish registered car for the UK one if I am inviting possible problems.

I'm assuming it's an EU driving license. The pink one with your photo on.

It is legal to drive on this in any EU country. I think the ones who told you about driving on the license are confusing the driving of a Spanish reg car in UK (or a UK one in Spain). If you couldn't drive a UK reg car with a Spanish license then you couldn't hire a car in UK as they are UK registered cars

PS There are also many, many non-residents in Spain driving Spanish reg cars with a UK license. People who have holiday homes with a Spanish reg car, for example and it is perfectly legal.

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Think you and your friend are confusing being a Spanish Nationalist with being born in UK but conforming to the Spanish law of driving licence and by  signing on the foreign residents register.

Where is Johnzx when needed.

"Baja" your Spanish residency as it won't be doing you any good then. Easy. Can't for the life of me see how it would invalidate insurance, though.

We had already considered relinquishing our residency as a possible solution but the question then is 'Is it permissible to hold and/or drive using a Spanish driving licence if you are a non-resident?  If the answer is no, you are driving illegally thus invalidating your insurance.  No?

I don't think it's got anything to do with the license. I think it's more the driving a foreign plated vehicle so your license would still be valid. I agree, you can't drive a foreign registered car if you are a resident (either in Spain or in UK) but that's to do with registration of vehicles.

And there are plenty of residents in Spain driving Spanish registered vehicles with a UK license.

However, take your name off the register of foreign nationals resident in Spain if you are really worried about it. You can then drive the Spanish car until you swap it and then the UK car to drive home. There would be no advantage of staying on the register if you are leaving.

I think that you have all misunderstood the problem. The simple answer is that under E.U. law it is illegal for any resident of an E.U. country to permanently OWN a foreign registered car in your country of residence.  However if you are only going to be in your country of residence with a foreign plated car for a short time and preferably have proof that the car will be leaving the country in a 'short' time then it is o.k. Normally accepted proof is a ferry ticket for that vehicle withing 6 months of it entering the country.

There is no problem in driving a foreign plated vehicle in your country of residence, the problem arrives when you own the foreign plated vehicle.

As far as I understand any resident who holds a licence in that country cannot drive a foreign registered car in that country there are exceptions

I would call dvla and enquire at the traffic in Spain

Then ask your insurance company