Modern Vespa

so i have been riding my vespa in Ireland on a UK B licence ( as i passed my driving test in the late 80's - i have never had a bike licence

my insurance company emailed me saying , i need to convert my UK licence to a Irish licence before end of week - or i cannot drive

so i go to licence centre yesterday - pay my fee, and transfer

THEN just as i am leaving the guy sees my helmet and tell me i am no longer licenced !!!! - they cannot move the B licence to ireland

i now have to

. get a learner permit for bikes
. do a theory test !
. do 18 hours IBT training
and wear L plates...................

.


then i can do a bike test to get rid of the L plates

so im now in the car till i sort all the above

anyway thinking i may as well do the full IBT modules and go to the A licence - that we i can get any bike going forward.


silver lining i suppose, but so so so annoyed

i had to ride home with no licence yesterday .

Wow, that sucks.

Not entirely sure what your problem is? The standard U.K. license has never included motorcycle use, you have always been required to take a separate test for that. You say you have never had a bike license? Then why have you been riding one without?

hiya UK B licence ( CAR ) included 49CC and under if passed before a certain date

https://www.gov.uk/motorcycle-cbt/car-driving-licence

AH, well then look at this as an opportunity. Way more fun on the larger bikes and scoots.

In the USA when we move to another state, that new residency often involves much bureaucratic wrangling such as my having to do a MC written and road test over again even though I had such in my former state.
Even simple things we take for granted such as warranties on property can be affected by location within the USA.

Got a government hassle?, join the club.

Governments are there to hassle you.

Some folks want even more government.

Crazy.

From what I understand, most states have a straight up transfer of license (with the exception of CDL) but you do have to do it within a certain amount of time if you move there. They may require a new vision test but if your license isn't close to expiring, it's a straight swap.

I am not aware of any state which will not carry forward a valid motorcycle endorsement on a driver license when the license holder is establishing residency-transfer from another state. Various states do have different time allotments in which to do so, though.

Wrong (at least in my own experience at the last time I moved which is obviously anecdotal) but not worth arguing over as I make no claim to direct current knowledge.
My father was in charge of the KS truck division of the DMV and spent most of his time at work trying to get other states to have reciprocity of commercial truck operation. many of the differences still exist between various states in many areas of the DMV.
The general USA dividing line of similarities with trucks was the KS/MO state border when I was a kid and still exists in certain noticeable ways such as trailer lengths and number that can be pulled. Gun laws are all over the map too and several books sold that detail those differences due to CCW laws.

That's a CDL not a standard motorcycle or car license. In my experience that's been a straight swap with an eye test and sometimes the written test. I haven't had to take an in the car or on the bike test since I first got my driver's license at 16 in California no matter where I've live din the US since.

CDLs are a whole different ballpark besides a lot of things have changed when it comes to licensing since your father was at the DMV. Heck, just the changes I've seen between the time my oldest son got his license (2009) and my youngest (2014) in the same state proves that.

A question: Why did the person glancing at your helmet decide that you didn't qualify for the transfer?!

What about the helmet made them decide that?!?!?! So confused.

I would assume the person looking at the helmet did the paperwork on the license conversion. They saw the MC helmet and knew that he was not qualified to ride a motorbike under the new rules.

this.

I can only guess that you know that I know what a CDL is. Just talk about a license for cars and PTW's and using the reality that laws vary greatly all over the USA not specifically CDL's.

I do know you know what a CDL is but there has been a lot more standardization in passenger car licensing since your father was at the DMV. For adults there is little issue with transferring a passenger car or motorcycle license from state to state unless you have a lot of points or DUI/DWI conviction on your record. That's a whole different ballpark.

CDL = California Drivers Licence

Commercial, not California.

I hear ya. I could ride 50cc no test or CBT, L plate etc.

This is my experience too. I got my car/motorcycle license in Tennessee. Transferred it to Michigan with no problem (no written or road test required). Transferred from Michigan to Arizona with no problem (no written or road test required). But that's a small sample.

-Craig

When I transferred my license from CA to NY I had to gently coach the DMV clerk that "Class: CM1" on my CA licence means I have both C and M1, not a single "CM1" class that doesn't exist. She couldn't find a "CM1" in her reference book so she took my word for it.

When the shop in Denver was giving me a loaner while they worked on my scoot they wanted a copy of my motorcycle license since the one I was getting was bigger than 50cc (ride on drivers license in CO). He looked at the Texas license and told me I didn't have a motorcycle endorsement. I pointed out that the M in the CM meant motorcycle. He was concerned because if you are caught riding a motorcycle without a license in Colorado apparently they confiscate the bike and you never get it back unless you prove you had a license at the time you were "caught".

As I noted, CDL does not apply. Each state has rigid and specific rules for that.

What's worse than government is no government.

I don't know about that. For the most part I liked all the Mad Max movies.

Things change even when you don't cross any borders. I used to be able to drive vehicles up to 7 tonnes with my standard UK license. Last year I found I couldn't do that any more. Sadly I only found this out while trying to hire one

Unless you're the one getting your fanny kicked!
Movies have the opportunity to take artistic license to the extreme. I like Terminator movies for the same reason!

The changing laws can sure mess up things at times.

Like my dad for example. Back in the 1940's he did motorcycle escort duty for the army in the southern states. When he got out of the service spent the first years of married life doing long haul trucking up and down the east coast.

Jump forward to the late 60's when brother and I both got small motorcycles, both 60 cc's for the first couple years he could ride them legally on the road.

Then with motorcycle getting more popular New York decided thy needed a license to ride on the road. If you had a motorcycle registered in your name for at least a year all you had to do was prove it and you automatically got the "M" added to your license.

So now dad could legally drive any motor vehicle on the road except my 60cc Bridgestone or Rich's 60 cc Moto Morini!

I LITERALLY in the mid 80's went around the block on a P200e and had to stop on a line. That was it besides the oh so difficult sign knowledge test. That got me a full M.

When I moved to Michigan they did not know what they were doing. So they gave me a full M and a Car license. I had never driven a car in my life.

If you have driving license issued before EU or even some time after entering EU (this was changing some time after 2002 or so) then you have driving license for B with code A1 150 so you can drive 50cc max (not limited by speed or power ) anywhere you want (in countries with even slower brain functions you need international driving license, but that is just formality on paper for some small amount of money). And that is valid both in EU or not-in-EU countries.

So most important question is what is on your driving license exactly

Besides UK is still in EU and even if it will not be some other rules will apply like in Switzerland or Norway and as you're driving in Ireland which is in EU then there is that new rule from 2016 that you can drive up to 125cc just with B license (some countries went maximum and allow even shifting on these bikes, but others only variator possible).

THIS ^ is correct. A lot of the DMV rules have changed over time, mostly for the better.

What I do know from a few people's experiences is that the DMV clerks are sometimes not that bright and do make mistakes when dealing with state to state transfers. There have been quite a few that weren't aware of how the other states motorcycle endorsement appears on the license and only transfer over the auto part. Then, later on, when that is brought to their attention they say there no way to fix it without the person being tested all over again.