Jump to content
Complete France Forum

Learner drivers in France


Kitty

Recommended Posts

I know, I know.  Others have probably asked but the thread that I found was 2004 and maybe things have changed.  Other threads are confusing.

What age can a young person learn to drive in France?  What is the white sticker that you see when you are stuck behind an erratic driver about accompanied 16 year olds?  What hoops do they have to go through to get the licence?  Is the eventual French licence interchangeable with a UK one for a young person? Do you want me to ask anymore questions?!

The reason: I have a daughter who will be 16 shortly and she wants to drive - and soon...  She is capable and we have some private land to practice on before we let her loose on the roads so don't panic if you live in 33.

Can someone point me in the right direction?  A website will do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The minumim age for learning to drive in France is 16 years.

Persons aged 16 years and over must undergo initial training for category B in an approved educational establishment. This training involves 20 hours of tutored practice, including passing the general theory test.

When the trainer judges that the student has acquired the necessary knowledge and level of vehicle control, he will issue a training completion certificate which qualifies the student to drive under accompanied control (the white sticker). The student will then have to drive more than 3000 kms during a minimum of one year or maximum of three years.   During this time, the student will have to maintain a training log book and return to the training establishment for one or two progress evaluations. Accompanied control requires the presence of a person over 28 years old who has held a Class B licence for more than three years.

When the student has met all of these conditions and has reached the age of 18 years and is considered ready by the trainer, they will be able to sit the practical two part (off road/on road) driving test.

The French Class B driving licence is valid for use in the UK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...
Excellent advice and knowledge as usual from SD.

It is our daughters 16 th this weekend and we are struggling for a prezzie.

Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much driving lessons cost ? 

I did my lessons in 1978/79 and cost 7 pounds per hour[:$]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi ok

               Can I reverse the question ... the nephew who has just passed his test wants to hire a bike/scooter when he comes over, is there an age/ must have held a full licence for x years   law that he must meet ???

  SD do you now any where local he can hire one from ?

               Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hello SD

              he must have a full UK  bike licence  because he has a 600 cc  bike  he is 20 in September   but he has just last month passed his test .... think he has passed his test in a car a while back though..

                  dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If he is 19 years old and running a 600cc bike, then he will have a category A licence restricted to bikes with a maximum power rating of 25kW (33bhp) and a power/weight ratio not exceeding 0.16 kW/kg.  The bike will have been restricted down to comply with the legal power limit.

Once he's held his licence for two years, the restriction no longer applies and he can ride any size of bike.

The same licence conditions apply in France, so he can currently ride any scooter or motorbike up to that 25kW limit.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
[quote user="opas"]Excellent advice and knowledge as usual from SD.

It is our daughters 16 th this weekend and we are struggling for a prezzie.

Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much driving lessons cost ? 

I did my lessons in 1978/79 and cost 7 pounds per hour[:$]

[/quote]

I got lessons here for a motorbike and for 20hrs without doing the "code de la route" was 750euro but this included everything from adminstration to test costs.

Mind you I struggled with the lang. a bit and ended up doing 30-35 hrs and that cost another 350euro.

I think you will find that car lessons are around the same with the code de la route it should cost between 1200 and 1500 euro which can be paid in stages.

hope that gives you an idea.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
So my son who I was taking out for practice, having had a couple of dozen lessons with a driving school in Uk , who is on the insurance of my Uk registered vehicle and holds a provisional licence, wouldn't be legal to drive here with me supervising him? (Uk registered vehicle still legal here before I get told off, haven't been here more than a month yet!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jo - not sure of the answer to your question - assume you mean a car, not a motorbike?

But I do know of a 17yr old who had lived in France for several years, returned to UK to his grandparents for the summer where he had booked a few lessons, took and passed the driving test (car). So with his UK license he drove in France at age 17. He was stopped once by the gendarmes who were unsure of the legalities, but allowed him to continue.

His mother, a friend of mine, says it can be done but best to keep a low profile for the first year or two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Jo"]So my son who I was taking out for practice, having had a couple of dozen lessons with a driving school in Uk , who is on the insurance of my Uk registered vehicle and holds a provisional licence, wouldn't be legal to drive here with me supervising him? (Uk registered vehicle still legal here before I get told off, haven't been here more than a month yet!)

[/quote]

It appears that provisional licences are in general not recognised outside their country of issue. So, your son cannot drive a car under supervision in France.

Regards

Pickles

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Patf"]Jo - not sure of the answer to your question - assume you mean a car, not a motorbike?

But I do know of a 17yr old who had lived in France for several years, returned to UK to his grandparents for the summer where he had booked a few lessons, took and passed the driving test (car). So with his UK license he drove in France at age 17. He was stopped once by the gendarmes who were unsure of the legalities, but allowed him to continue.

The driving age in France is 18, so he is disqualified by reason of age, the UK gov website states that you should check the local counties limits.

His mother, a friend of mine, says it can be done but best to keep a low profile for the first year or two.

could find himself in a lot of hot water if he was involved in an accident

[/quote]

Regarding accompanied driving, my daughter thought about this as a couple of her friends were driving with their parents, but she was told as she was not French and I had a UK driving licence she couldn't ??? that might have just been a cop out from the driving school though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Pickles"][quote user="Jo"]So my son who I was taking out for practice, having had a couple of dozen lessons with a driving school in Uk , who is on the insurance of my Uk registered vehicle and holds a provisional licence, wouldn't be legal to drive here with me supervising him? (Uk registered vehicle still legal here before I get told off, haven't been here more than a month yet!)
[/quote]
It appears that provisional licences are in general not recognised outside their country of issue. So, your son cannot drive a car under supervision in France.

Regards
Pickles
[/quote]

Jo

Your son is basically a non-licenceholder therefore he'd have to enrol with a driving school for the initial driving course and code exam.  Once he's achieved the standard, he'll get the go-ahead to start his 'conduite accompagnée' with you as the supervising driver.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Sunday Driver, that clarifies it. He won't be doing that, he's only here on a delayed 'gap year', he finished his Masters last summer and is slobbing out till he starts his post graduate course in September, unfortunately his degree is physics not french so he doesn't have the required language skills to enrol with a driving school[:D]Oh well, back to Mum's taxi[:(]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...