Exchanging your SA Driver's Licence for a UK Driver's licence

Although you can legally drive in the UK on your South African Driver's Licence for a year, I personally feel it's a good idea to exchange your licence as soon as possible as the UK Driver's licence serves as a proof of address and is also useful for identification purposes.

How to exchange your South African Driver's licence for a UK one:

Go to your local post office and ask the person behind the counter for the form you need - it's form D1.  (The guy I dealt with was super-helpful and assisted me every step of the way)

Get your photo taken - there was a DIY cubicle for photos in the post office I went to

Get a postal order - the post office will confirm, but when we went we needed a £43 postal order

We had to send the form, the photo, the postal order as well as our BRPs and passports (I'm not entirely sure that it was necessary to send the passport, but the guy I dealt with said I should)

Your BRP and passport will be posted back to you within a few days and a day or two later you'll get your UK licence in the post.

Note: there is a clause that says you can only exchange your licence after being in the UK for 185 days - this is to stop people on Visit Visas from exchanging their licences.  Most South Africans I have spoken to, who are planning to stay in the UK have exchanged their licences before the 185 days are up with no problems whatsoever.  I ignored the clause and exchanged my licence the day I collected my BRP.  

photo credit: filipeb <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38875534@N00/101236579">carocha</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">(license)</a>