Provisional Driving Licience Question

john432

I have a son who is 17 in 2 weeks.
On Direct.gov looks like you have to wait until he is actually 17 before you can apply for a provisional.
Is this correct? Thank you.

waamo

He can apply now. He can ride a scooter at 16 and would need a provisional lice e for that.

john432

Sorry should of been clearer. Provisional CAR licence.

So, does he have to wait until he is actually 17?

Syman

IIRC you can apply for a provisional license at 16, then as you reach the correct age limit (i.e. 17 for a car) that entitlement kicks in. so you cannot drive a car on public roads before the age of 17.

Iceweasel

Apply now - he'll get a provisional for all groups as and when he's old enough

john432

Looking at direct.gov, when I select car (cat , it will only let me apply when he is 17.
Moped, and yes He could now apply, BUT, He does not want to have a provisional for moped, he wants the provisional car. Their doesn't appear to be a option for provisional for moped and car.
Am I missing something, or is it the case wait until 17 and then apply for provisional CAR licience?

Iceweasel

Are you applying for him using your Government Gateway ID?

That would confuse the system no end.

Why does he not register himself and apply with his own GG ID

john432

When he does the pre checks, selecting car, then minimum age requirement is 17, so can not proceed until he is 17 in a couple of weeks. Only when he is 17, then he can apply for a provisional car licence. This then means he will have to wait until the actual provisional licence comes through before he can start to learn to drive.

shaun_from_Africa

john432 wrote: »

When he does the pre checks, selecting car, then minimum age requirement is 17, so can not proceed until he is 17 in a couple of weeks. Only when he is 17, then he can apply for a provisional car licence. This then means he will have to wait until the actual provisional licence comes through before he can start to learn to drive.

As stated by others, your son can apply for a provisional licence now.
What will happen is that when it is issued, it will have a valid from date for each category of vehicle and these dates will differ for car and moped. The start date for mopeds will be your son's 16th birthday and for cars it will be his 17th.

GwylimT

Get the moped card. When he is 17 he will be able to use it to drive a car.

You don't have a different card for each vehicle type you can drive.

Dclutterchique

john432 wrote: »

I have a son who is 17 in 2 weeks.
On Direct.gov looks like you have to wait until he is actually 17 before you can apply for a provisional.
Is this correct? Thank you.

The short answer is no.

He can apply for a provisional driving licence before his 17th birthday as noted in the 'When you can apply' section of the following link: https://www.gov.uk/apply-first-provisional-driving-licence

True it does say in https://www.gov.uk/vehicles-can-drive/y/car-category-b/16 'You normally need to be 17 before you can get a provisional licence and start learning to drive a car' (my bold) but in this case 'get' does not mean 'apply for' it means 'physically obtain in one's hands'. In fact it is possible to have physical possession of a driving licence before one's 17th birthday, it will just state that it is valid from 1st October 2016 or whatever the date of your son's birthday is. As it is so close to his 17th birthday, and he's not likely to use the moped entitlement, I wouldn't bother applying for a moped licence, just apply for a car licence.

As a point of interest for any other parents or 16/17 year old teenagers reading this if you apply for a moped licence at or just before your 16th birthday not only do you get the moped entitlement from your 16th birthday, but you also, automatically, get the car entitlement from the day of your 17th birthday. I believe this is called 'Entitlement to grow'. It does not require additional applications or payments and if you know (or suspect) that the cost of a licence will go up between your 16th and 17th birthdays is a way of saving a few pounds, as there is no law that says the 16 year old holder of a provisional moped licence has to use it in order for the car entitlement to be activated a year later.