Most UK households won’t want a £5.50 paper allow to drive within the EU after a deal was struck with simply over 4 hours to spare.
All yr, the federal government had warned Brits would want an Worldwide Driving Allow to drive on the Continent after Brexit.
This was a dramatic change to preparations earlier than Brexit, when Brits solely wanted their UK driving licence.
Nonetheless, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps final night time mentioned a deal had been reached to keep away from the necessity for IDPs.
He introduced the information on Twitter at 6.30pm – 4 and a half hours earlier than EU guidelines had been as a result of finish within the UK.
“We have now secured settlement with all 27 EU Member States to recognise UK licences WITHOUT the necessity for an Worldwide Drivers Allow,” he tweeted.
“UK drivers can proceed to drive within the EU with out an IDP (as soon as Covid restrictions lifted).”
UK motorists getting into EU international locations will nevertheless want a inexperienced card and GB sticker if taking their very own car from January 1.
Inexperienced playing cards present proof of auto insurance coverage when driving overseas and must be requested out of your insurer not less than six weeks earlier than journey.
Regardless of the highest Tory’s declare, the federal government’s web site says a small variety of drivers should want an IDP for journeys within the EU.
This group is these with a paper driving licence, or a licence issued in Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man.
Click on right here to see in case you want an IDP within the nation you may be visiting.
Cardboard IDPs are offered at Put up Workplaces, which had been gearing up for an enormous positive in demand when Covid guidelines finish.
Mr Shapps additionally tweeted a last-minute cope with Eire, wherein UK licence holders won’t need to retake their take a look at when shifting to the Republic and vice versa.
Regardless of the breakthrough, most Brits can not at the moment journey to the EU as a result of a number of layers of coronavirus restrictions.
On the UK facet, the 78% of England’s households in Tier 4 areas are banned from staying in a single day away from the place they stay.
And on the EU facet, most international locations have restrictions in opposition to non-essential journey from the UK as a result of a brand new variant of Covid.
There are exemptions to that rule, equivalent to for ex-pats, however they range on a country-by-country foundation.
Even when UK-specific obstacles are lifted, non-essential journey by Brits to the EU should be banned – thanks partly to Brexit.
The European Council agreed to limit non-essential journey from nearly all non-EU international locations into the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland as a result of coronavirus.
Solely a handful of nations together with New Zealand are exempt from this blanket advice.
Now that the UK has left EU guidelines, it’s more likely to discover itself a sufferer of the non-essential journey ban – even when different restrictions are lifted in future.