Have a look at some of the big Car Hire companies websites, they will have some details about carrying licences and/or the IDP acceptance.

The IDP is a moot point at the moment as you cannot get one without producing a valid licence anyway.

Not having the right paperwork on you will, 99% of the time not be an issue - its the 1% that causes 99% of the aggro. You leave yourself open to having the bike impounded, you arrested, or some corrupt copper adding to their retirement fund. I'd wait for the licence so that I could really enjoy the trip without the worry that every time I came in contact with officialdom they would find the problem.

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Im'e with Redboots on this one.
They, the poilce will want to see your licence if you are stopped.
Any thing else, will not count.

I wouldn't risk it, as much as you want to go, it could end in tears.
I am not even sure a scanned copy would be sufficient ?

'vette

As for Germany a scanned copy is irrelavant, they want to see the real thing. If you try to make it look like it's the real thing and they spot it's fake, you're looking at a forgery charge.

Then again I get stopped about once every 2 - 3 years and I'd reckon I do few more km in Germany than you would.

Personally I'd get an IDP and say I'd lost/stolen the driving license if asked.(what would you do if that had really happened, you're not going to end your trip, fly home and ship the bike back)
I've only ever been asked for passport or ownership paperwork NEVER a driving license.

Pete

What about a situation where your licence was physically lost or stolen during your travels?

Would you stop travelling until a replacement licence was issued from your home country?. Here in Australia you have to reapply in person to obtain a replacement - does that mean I should fly home to get another one then fly back to whichever country I was in?

What if this happened to me in 2008 when I was in Russia? It takes one month to obtain a Russian visa - does that mean I leave my motorcycle in Russia for a month whilst I obtain another visa in Australia? Would the Russian authorities let me leave the country without also exporting the bike?. ....

... and so on, and so on.

I think it's fair to say that having a hard copy of your documents is sufficient to get you by and if I were jamesallen I would be heading off on my planned start day and having some one in the UK emailing a scanned copy of the licence once it is received and then forwarding the original of the licence to an address in a country where I plan to be on an agreed date.

I think people are making too big of a deal out of this. Russian police have absolutely no idea what a british drivers license looks like. An IDP works fine, and if you're worried about losing it, get more than one...

I think a few people should read the other posts more carefully :mchappy: You can get an IDP through the post using photocopies of the original docs.