about your licence

Monday, February 06, 2012

About your licence:

After much confussion i thought i would put this information up on the website so that hopfully it gives some clarity on the matter.

The modern driving licence consists of two parts, the photo I.D. card and the paper counter part. In order to do any training you must have both parts on the day of your course. There are a few things you shold check before booking any course:

Is your driving licence valid & in date? look on the plastic photo I.D. card at section 4b. The photo I.D. card is only valid for 10 years and must be replaced it has run out, or better still before it does! You shold get a reminder from the DVLA if it is due to expire soon (provided your still living at the address shown on the licence).
have you at any point lost either part of your licence? if the answer is no then good! if the answer is yes then make sure you have matching parts of your driving licence! Section 5 of the photo I.D. card shows your driving licence number which will start with the first 5 letters of your surname followed by your date of birth (scrambled up) and then another 5 digits, I.E. SMITH 152002 N99BM. Just after your licence number will be the licence issue number, if you then look at the paper counter part you will see next to your name / address your licence number and the issue number. These numbers must match exactly! (If for example one has an issue number of 13 and the other has 15a then this would be a mismatched licence, normally where you have applied for a duplicate and then mixed the parts of the new with the old licence).
where does your licence come from? Whilst you can continue to drive in the U.K. on any european licence you can only train to rideif you have either a U.K or N.I. provisional or full driving licence. If you do not have one of these then you must apply to the DVLA prior to booking any course.

How to check your entitlements:

if you have a provisional driving licence:

If you look at the plastic part of your driving licence you will find a series of letters, known as categories along the bottom, the categories that you should be interested in are the letters A an P. The letter P is for moped (49cc) entitlement and the letter A is for motorbike entitlement (125cc / 14.6Bhp). Secondly if you look on the back of the plastic photo I.D. card you will see the valid from/to dates, category P should be valid from your 16th birthday whereas category A will be valid from your 17th birthday.

If you have a full U.K. driving licence:

Once you have passed your car test the categories shown on the plastic photo I.D. card will ony show your FULL entitlements. To see your provisional entitlements you should look at the paper counter part of your driving licence. If you look just under the section where your name & address are you will find the provisional entitlement section. Again here you will find category A for motorbikes (125cc/14.6 Bhp) and if you passed your licence after January 2001 then you will also see category P. If you passed your driving test before January 2001 then you will have Full moped (49cc) entitlement on the plastic photo I.D. card.

What if you have an older style paper licence?

Thats not a problem, all you need is your passport as well for I.D. although bare in mind this:

Your licence needs to be ledgable (if we cannot read it, you cannot use it).
Your passport must be valid & in date.