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A recent post on LinkedIn highlighted the subtleties of the English language; another thing for those relocating to the UK to get to grips with:

 

WHAT THE BRITISH SAY	WHAT THE BRITISH MEAN	WHAT FOREIGNERS UNDERSTAND
I hear what you say	I disagree and do not want to discuss it further	He accepts my point of view
With the greatest respect	You are an idiot	He is listening to me
That's not bad	That's good	That's poor
That is a very brave proposal	You are insane	He thinks I have courage
Quite good	A bit disappointing	Quite good
I would suggest	Do it or be prepared to justify yourself	Think about the idea, but do what you like
Oh, incidentally/ by the way	The primary purpose of our discussion is	That is not very important
I was a bit disappointed that	I am annoyed that	It doesn't really matter
Very interesting	That is clearly nonsense	They are impressed
I'll bear it in mind	I've forgotten it already	They will probably do it
I'm sure it's my fault	It's your fault	Why do they think it was their fault?
You must come for dinner	It's not an invitation, I'm just being polite	I will get an invitation soon
I almost agree	I don't agree at all	He's not far from agreement
I only have a few minor comments	Please rewrite completely	He has found a few typos
Could we consider some other options	I don't like your idea	They have not yet decided

 

The original source is not known although it was suggested in the Telegraph that it could have been written by a Dutch company to help employees relocating to the UK. The table has been circulating for a number of years now but just today I experienced it personally. We had organised a driving lesson for a client who recently relocated to Manchester. They are permitted to drive on their foreign licence but must apply for a provisional licence, pass the UK driving test and apply for a full UK licence within twelve months. At the end of the lesson the instructor advised our client that they were not a terrible driver……..they heard I am a good driver!!

We need to give some thought as to how we handle that one, perhaps a chat over some Friday Fizz!!

What are the rules about driving in the UK? The answer depends on where the driving test was passed:

If you passed the driving test in Northern Ireland you can drive until your licence expires.

If you passed the driving test within the European Union you can drive for 3 years after becoming resident but must then exchange your licence for a UK one. If you obtained an EU licence by exchanging a non EU licence you must exchange your licence after 12 months.

If you passed the driving test in Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man and the designated countries (currently Andorra, Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Hong Kong, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Zimbabwe) you can drive for 12 months after becoming resident but must then exchange your licence for a UK one.

If you passed the driving test elsewhere you can drive for 12 months but must apply for UK provisional licence, pass the UK driving test and apply for a full licence within 12 months.

Here is a useful tool to double check your particular circumstances:

https://www.gov.uk/driving-nongb-licence

Our advice, should you need to pass the UK test, is to get started as soon as you can. Whilst you can already drive, the UK test has some peculiarities and ‘good’ drivers do not always pass first time.

A good place to start is to have a driving lesson with a qualified instructor – we can recommend one who will advise if he thinks it will be beneficial for you to have some lessons before the test. Hopefully he will actually say the words ‘you are a good driver!!

Relocating to Manchester, Cheshire or the North West? We provide relocation services in Manchester, Cheshire and the North West and can help with home search, school search and settling in.