OT Driving Licence Renewal

[Max Demian]

Presumably it's possible to regain the right later, by getting the necessary documents from your doctor/optician.

[Chris Green]

... and you have to pass a medical. I retained my 7.5 tonne licence for two 'over 70' renewals but at 76 I decided I wasn't likely to ever need it so saved the hassle (and cost) of a medical every three years.

[Chris Green]

No, once it's gone, it's gone. You'd have to take an HGV test to get it back.

[Colin Bignell]

It was a right I had never used since it was introduced, some time in the 1970s IIRC, so I saw little point in keeping it past age 70.

[Davey]

I was definitely asked to cut it up and send it back, but I would never cut the expiring one up until I had received its replacement. "If something can go wrong....".

[Peter Able]

Well, my assumption was that most have to apply before their 70th, 73rd,

76th etc. etc. birthday.

So I did, approaching 70, but it took well over a year before I received a valid photo-licence. The good news was that they post-dated the final licence issued.

All sorts of excuses given. My biggest concern was not having tangible proof of being licenced - particularly after the first fourteen months.

So, roll on 2025 ;-}

[Max Demian]

Why? Neither large vans nor minibuses are HGVs.

[Colin Bignell]

It is, in fact, the LGV test you would need to take, as well as passing medical and eyesight tests. Once you give up the grandfather right, you are treated the same as any other category B licence holder.

[SteveW]

I've only used it twice (once to take a lot of items from my M-I-Ls to storage and again to collect the panels of a concrete, sectional garage.

It may come in useful again when my son's start buying and doing up their own houses.

[Colin Bignell]

I can still tow a trailer and have a 1400kg box trailer, which I used to take furniture down to and back from a house I used to own in southern France.

[Chris Green]

Well, anything over 3.5T then. You'd have to take a new test to get your 7.5T entitlement back is all I was saying.

[Chris Green]

Ah, since my son has a full I and II HGV licence that wouldn't be an issue for me! :-)

[SteveW]

My eldest son is due to take his test soon. He is not eligible for goods vehicle classes, as he has epilepsy. He has not had any seizures (despite much provocation with lack of sleep and alcohol), since he started on medication and the DVLA is happy for him to drive a car. However for goods vehciles, he would have to come off medication and be seizure free for 10 years before he could take a test and get those categories.

[Jeff Layman]

Weren't all licences "post-dated" because there was a long delay in issuing them due to Covid? Mine had an expiry date 9 months after my birthday (which the newly-issued one still has).

What is the actual date of expiry on your licence? If you're still within that then the licence is valid. If not, then if you drive you do so uninsured as well as unlicensed.

[alan_m]

Why is it that when any organisation implements a new improved web or phone interface it ends up being worse for their customers?

[Peter Able]

Could be. There was that 11 months extra for folk due a 70th birthday up to 31/12/20. "They" used that, at first, to explain some of the delay - "Others are more urgent."

07/2025. As far as I can see, I've been legal all the way through - but that legality has been stretched almost to breaking point by the negligence of the authorities.

Who are experts at screwing the public in a backside-covering denial.

PA

PA

[Bob Eager]

Not necessarily. Many policies say that the driver must hold, or *has held, and is not disqualified from holding*, the relevant licence.

[Davey]

No-one from the organisation makes a test call as though they were a frustrated customer. The same applies with instructions that the writer understands perfectly, but the poor consumer, who does not have the intimate knowledge of the device concerned, has no chance of understanding.

[SteveW]

You are permitted to drive (DVLA Section 88), even after your licence has expired, as long as the DVLA have received your application for renewal. This right lasts until the earlier of 12 months having passed (from receival of application), a new licence being issued or a licence being refused.

[SteveW]

The DVLA's Section 88 specifically covers being permitted to continue to drive, while waiting for a renewal for which they have received an application. This covers both the licence expiring while waiting and making an apoplication after a licence has expired. As long as you meet the critera, you are deemed to have a valid licence, even after expiry.