The UK on a Norwegian Licence — Driving on the Left & a 0.08 Limit

The questions that bring Norwegians here are the ones you would expect: which side of the road do they drive on, and how does the drink-drive limit compare? So, first. Norway drives on the right. The UK drives on the left. And the alcohol limit is 0.02 in Norway against 0.08 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with Scotland at 0.05.

The admin, by contrast, is trivial. Your Norwegian licence is accepted for visits of up to 12 months from your last entry, and no IDP is required. The rest of this page is about retraining reflexes.

Rewiring the first day

The danger window is the first day, and roundabouts are the sharpest edge of it. In Britain you give way to traffic from the right and circulate clockwise, the mirror image of home, and the country is full of roundabouts, from painted mini-roundabouts to multi-lane junctions with traffic lights.

A few habits help:

• Take the wheel somewhere quiet first, and say each junction out loud if you have to.
• Be deliberate when pulling out of a petrol station or side road, where the old instinct to drift right is strongest.
• Your driving position is on the right of the car, near the centre line. Judging the left edge of an unfamiliar car takes a little practice.
• If you hire a manual car, expect to change gear with your left hand.

Narrow lanes

Rural Britain holds another surprise: single-track lanes bounded by hedges or stone walls, with passing places rather than two clear lanes. They demand patience and a willingness to reverse. After Norway’s generously engineered roads they feel tight, and the usual courtesy is to pull into the passing place on your left, or wait opposite one on your right.

Speeds in miles per hour

Wales defaults to 20 mph (32 km/h) on restricted roads. The UK limits are higher than Norway’s on open roads, which tempts visitors to match local speeds on unfamiliar lanes, but the signs are in mph and the speedometer in a hire car may show only one unit, so check which. A 70 mph limit is about 112 km/h, in line with what you know from a Norwegian motorway at 110.

Alcohol, honestly

The English limit is a comparatively loose 0.08 (Scotland is 0.05), well above Norway’s strict 0.02. Do not relax into it. Penalties for going over are severe, and a Norwegian driver who has spent a lifetime drinking nothing before driving should simply keep doing that.

Fines side by side

Norwegian speeding fines are a fixed tariff, not income-based. The UK works differently for faster offences: the higher bands are set as a share of weekly income, from 25-75% in the lowest band up to 125-175% in the highest, with points or disqualification. You can check a likely fine in the Speeding Fine Calculator. If a penalty reaches you back home, who pays driving fines abroad explains the process.

Kit and emergencies

Norway requires a reflective vest and a warning triangle in the car. The UK only recommends them, so a hire car may not have either. Call 999 or 112 in the UK for police, ambulance and fire; at home you use 112 for police, 113 for an ambulance and 110 for fire. Our United Kingdom driving guide covers low-emission and congestion zones in cities like London.

Sources

• GOV.UK, the drink drive limit (80 mg per 100 ml in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; 50 mg in Scotland): gov.uk