driving licence -- surrender US licence

we've just moved to Scotland (the Orkney Islands), and somebody here told us that we'd have to surrender our California driving licences in order to get a provisional UK driving licence.  Is this true?

thanks,
Jean

NO, not that I know of. At least not here in England.

Not in Scotland either?  DH is driving on a CA licence and has a provisional too?  Fingers crossed he's not doing anything wrong 

Useful information here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/NeedANewOrUpdatedLicence/DG_10012514

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/DrivingInGbOnAForeignLicence/DG_4022562

somebody here told us that we'd have to surrender our California driving licences in order to get a provisional UK driving licence.  Is this true?

Simple answer:  No.   You need your existing Calif. license in order to drive legally for your first 12 months here anyway.

hello! i moved to scotland from arizona and did not have to give up my US driving licence. The only time you would have to give up your licence is if you exchange it for a UK one (only certain countries can do this, like Australia, South Africa, etc. Mainly commonwealth countries) and the USA is not eligable to exchange licences, one must apply for a provisional and then pass a test. You can use a USA licence for 1 year after becoming resident in Great Britain. hope that helped a wee bit, but I hold a provisional and a USA licence and there is nothing wrong with it.

No this isn't true.

You only have 1 year in which you can drive on your US licence before you must get a UK licence.  If you wait until after the 1 year concession you have to comply with L plates and P plates then...

Exchanging your licences is only for British territories and countries as well as EC/EEA countries (ie Canada, Australia, European Union countries, etc).  The US doesn't fall under this category so you have to take the test if you plan to live here for longer than 1 year if you want to be driving legally.

If you wait until after the 1 year concession you have to comply with L plates and P plates then...

"L" plates and be treated like a learner yes, but the "P" plates are entirely voluntary, at least within Great Britain (Northern Ireland is different).   They didn't even exist until a few years ago.