> ...
>It looks rather fishy to me too, or at least very dubious. They claim that they're
> exploiting loopholes and that it's supposedly legal, but it seems doubtful to me. For
> example:
> So I'd say you're obtaining a license based upon a falsified translation.
> And:
> So even if the license issued is valid and can be swapped legitimately for a U.K.
> license, it seems to involve a little perjury along the way.
Web sites like idrivinglicence.com and others that claim to know of a "loophole' are scams. Nobody could afford to run a bribery or multinational fraudulent licence scheme for £399 a pop. And licence issuing agencies aren't stupid. There are corrupt officials, but they can't be bought that cheaply either.
And under EU law one must be a resident of an EU Member State for six months before seeking a licence there. As the UK does not register residency the way many Member States do, it is a self-certification as part of the testing or application process, but in most other EU countries the applicant will have proof of residence.
Online forums contain many complaints of money sent and no product delivered. The forums also include "testimonials" but there is reason to believe these are fake, put there by the sellers. And many of the Web sites with different URLs, including some now shut down, contain identical pictures and text.
My wife and I both have valid European licences (in my case French, in hers Swiss). But neither can be exchanged for a UK licence because no test was ever taken. It happens I have a Quebec licence too, and that could be exchanged except I've been in the UK over 12 months so it can't. And I would have had to prove I took the Quebec test with a manual transmission (or I'd get a restricted licence here) and it's been so long I can't prove it. So I took the GB test (mandated in its details by EU law) and passed third time lucky.
If you do exchange an EU or other licence, the original is returned to the country of issuance. (That is also done among US states and Canadian provinces; it reveals fraud since the authority will respond if it receives back a forged licence.)
There is a way to get a valid, but fraudulent licence and that is to go to a corrupt country like Romania and -- assuming you can find a trusted intermediary -- go through a "test" that you are guaranteed to pass. That, by the way, happens in California too, so don't blame just Romania. The licence you get there will be facially legitimate and will stand up to any scrutiny, including exchange in the UK and return of the original to Romania. But no online scammer can do this for you. You have to go to Romania (or wherever) and make your own contacts.
On the other hand, you could just go to some testing centre in some remote Scottish town where they have no roundabouts and no traffic, and doubtless you'd pass on the first try. There must be such a place.
Finally, there is an alternative. If you can get yourself assigned to the UK as a diplomat or as a member of the Visiting Forces, you get licensed outside the normal rules. Diplomats get that little red book somebody wrote of above -- they have thousands left over, I have a souvenir here -- but, issued by DVLA London they expire after three years and can't be exchanged in this country (although I am told some other EU countries may exchange them if you live there; but since they are issued without tests the UK will not re-exchange them and other EU countries are not required to). Here's a European Parliament petition on that:
http://tinyurl.com/db4er2
