Department for Transport written question – answered at on 1 June 2026.
Neil O'Brien
Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many foreign driving licences were exchanged for GB licences in each of the last five years, broken down by country of origin.
Simon Lightwood
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below shows the number of foreign driving licence holders who have exchanged their licence for a GB licence in each of the last five years, broken down by the country or territory in which the original licence was issued.
Year | |||||
Country of Exchange | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
Andorra | 4 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
Austria | 134 | 166 | 132 | 143 | 144 |
Australia | 4799 | 4308 | 4852 | 5053 | 5163 |
Barbados | 63 | 127 | 156 | 139 | 105 |
British Virgin Islands | 30 | 50 | 60 | 50 | 39 |
Bulgaria | 5594 | 4389 | 2918 | 2068 | 1650 |
Canada | 1946 | 2419 | 2525 | 2574 | 2556 |
Cayman Islands | 22 | 146 | 141 | 110 | 142 |
Cyprus | 467 | 468 | 491 | 465 | 404 |
Denmark | 194 | 243 | 256 | 285 | 243 |
Estonia | 156 | 135 | 82 | 98 | 86 |
Falkland Islands | 60 | 76 | 42 | 23 | 31 |
2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
Finland | 173 | 163 | 171 | 179 | 184 |
France | 1603 | 1656 | 1651 | 1616 | 1717 |
Germany | 1403 | 1595 | 1617 | 1781 | 1875 |
Gibraltar | 55 | 74 | 87 | 82 | 68 |
Greece | 3078 | 2107 | 1731 | 1553 | 1341 |
Guernsey | 190 | 275 | 266 | 277 | 313 |
Hong Kong | 12345 | 33873 | 18052 | 10699 | 6023 |
Iceland | 39 | 38 | 32 | 35 | 37 |
Isle of Man | 221 | 339 | 306 | 279 | 295 |
Italy | 9690 | 6508 | 5495 | 5835 | 5649 |
Japan | 1384 | 1454 | 1578 | 1601 | 1785 |
Jersey | 321 | 480 | 502 | 464 | 411 |
Liechtenstein | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Lithuania | 2719 | 2703 | 2201 | 2033 | 1389 |
Luxembourg | 36 | 45 | 64 | 82 | 74 |
Malta | 184 | 336 | 186 | 205 | 124 |
Moldova | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1424 |
Monaco | 14 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 9 |
New Zealand | 1662 | 1389 | 1893 | 2634 | 2794 |
North Macedonia | 808 | 464 | 214 | 151 | 112 |
Norway | 402 | 540 | 434 | 325 | 261 |
Poland | 13330 | 10340 | 9233 | 8158 | 6856 |
Portugal | 3352 | 2660 | 2476 | 2030 | 1816 |
Republic of Ireland | 2028 | 2488 | 2195 | 2049 | 1942 |
Romania | 14242 | 15329 | 11396 | 8812 | 7532 |
Singapore | 421 | 691 | 763 | 663 | 591 |
Slovenia | 1100 | 941 | 976 | 683 | 593 |
Spain | 5915 | 4632 | 3299 | 2652 | 2403 |
South Africa | 8465 | 11481 | 13740 | 11378 | 4571 |
South Korea | 646 | 991 | 1064 | 1207 | 1129 |
Sweden | 1009 | 1406 | 1352 | 1117 | 974 |
Switzerland | 530 | 640 | 505 | 439 | 465 |
Taiwan | 4 | 1014 | 1035 | 820 | 693 |
Ukraine | 2899 | 5436 | 10199 | 7115 | 4930 |
United Arab Emirates | 4346 | 7623 | 9097 | 6371 | 3795 |
Zimbabwe | 1277 | 6390 | 15371 | 17004 | 7064 |
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