Well in fact they do buddy. Get this if you want to exchange your foreign licence for a UK one you have to go to a centre, pay your £50 fill out your form and then pay some clown £4 to check your passport. Then the application goes in and three weeks later, bata bim it all happens; you loose your old licence and end up a member of this circuis.
If you want to apply for your Provisional. You get to go to the same centre, pay the £50 again, but this time they won't trust the pleb behind the counter to check your passport ofr the £4, so you have to send your passport away. Trust these idiots with the care of your passport for two weeks so that they can identify you. Meaning the banana head who was good enough to check it for an exchange, is now no longer capable of checking it for the famous provisional licence.
Now listen to this idiot story: Some freakozoid from one of these insurance companies that I was getting a quote from required that I be able to substantuate my No claims record from Australia. He then proceeded to ask me if it had been translated from Australian into English. After telling him that we actually speak the queens English in australia and we are part of the Commonwealth and even drive on the same side of the road as in the UK, he preceed to tell that 'yes off-course but that is international English and not the real English'.
After calls like that, doesn't that say it all. the intelligence of a house plant, so what do you expect from them. Idiots i tell you, Idiots!
Quin seems to provide good ensurance guys, BUT I am trying to cover a car that I bought for £400 and the quote is for £688 per year. I don't know what you guys think about that, but it amazes me that the government allows this industry made up of what I think amounts to criminals form doing this stuff. To tell you the truth, all I see is something that I got to know all too well in Australia in the 70's good old oportunistic discrimination with a bit of racism mixed into it.
Best of luck guys, I only have one advantage over a lot of you; A ticket back home.