Spanish Deadline For Brit Driving License Exchange Now January 31

British expats in Spain now have until the end of January next year to transfer their driving licenses.

The Spanish government has now extended the deadline for UK expats to exchange their British driving licenses for the Spanish equivalent until January 31. All UK expats who’ve lived in Spain for two years or more need to exchange their UK driving licenses, with the straightforward process itself costing just €27.70. However, in the now hopefully unlikely event of a no deal Brexit, all UK driving licenses held by legal British residents will become invalid after nine months.

Meanwhile, a long-awaited catch-and-release sterilisation programme for stray cats has finally been approved by a local council in Spain’s Costa Blanca region. Pluto Protectora Animales in Teulada-Moraira has now received a grant totalling €4,000, thus allowing 80 cats to be sterilised over a one month period. The cash was authorised by Adrian Ruiz, the new local councillor for animal wellbeing, with one volunteer at the cat shelter saying it’s wonderful the area’s stray cat problem has finally been acknowledged by the authority.

The cat welfare shelter has been in operation for 15 years to date, with its sterilisation programmes resulting in a huge reduction in the local colonies of unwanted stray cats. With each colony previously known to hold around 50 cats, the volunteers say numbers have fallen and they now rescue just a few stray felines here and there. During 2018, 447 cats were neutered, 177 abandoned kittens found new, loving homes and 120 cats had to be euthanised. Kittens are normally found in and around restaurants as well as in rubbish bins, and the new councillor is now working on more ways to ensure the strays are cared for and hopefully rehomed.