grandfather Driving rights

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

caprikid1 wrote: »

I have to say having pitched up to hire a box van for a recent move and be recently given a 7.5T Lorry that it was quite an experience.


The amount of gears , size plus air brakes even with 25 years driving experience of all manner of cars , Vans etc I found quite a shock.


Unfortunately you cannot just remove all the old people permissions but there are suitable laws in place to protect the man on the street.


Pick your rattles up and get on with life.

I drove a Sprinter-based 27' (over 3.5 tonne) RV for a couple of weeks down country lanes. What a nightmare! It had a rear overhang of over 2 metres which gave it a very entertaining swing out, and also the ground clearance (with a sacrificial rear tow bar installation about a foot off the ground) made for very entertaining experiences at crossroads on overly cambered roads. No rear visibility aside from an intermittently functioning rear view camera and wing mirrors. Being a wrinkly, no test required for that C1 vehicle, different case if I was younger.

LandyAndy

grandfather Driving rights

I passed my test before 1997 (quite a long time before) and I'm not a grandfather.


Can I demand a grandchild?

Comms69

TheEffects wrote: »

Hi


I wanted to inquire is it me or its it completely unfair, that those whom passed driving test before jan 1997, have all these outrageous categories. C1 & D1 even towing trailers I hear


Those whom passed afterwards don't???????


Why are they allowed to simply retain them and not be removed? Is the government doing any think about this


I wanted to hire a minibus, only to be told I cant coz I don't have d1, where as my friend could as he passed before jan 1997?


I have been told I would need to do subsequent tests? is this money making scheme or what? why hasn't everyone's rights been revoked, to make it fair?


I don't see how a driver whom passed prior 1997 in a car, doing no theory what so ever is qualified to drive d1 and c1 vehicles, and those passing after 1997 are not?


Is there anyway around this, can we all simply get these category and do some sort of vocation training course. To be doing tests is very expensive I can see?

Life isn't fair, get over it.

EmmyLou30

For those worried about the elderly causing chaos on the roads in their 3.5 ton lorries, that gets removed at the age of 70 when you have to re-apply for your licence :-) If you wish to retain the rights to drive all those extra categories on your pre-1997 licence then you have to pay an extra £50, get a medical and eye test at an approved location. Many don't realise they've had categories removed as they never used them in the first place.

My father recently did the extra medical etc before his 70th incase he ever wanted to drive a giant motorhome! Plus I think as he's a caravan tower, trailer tower and used to drive various lorries, tractors and minibusses in his youth it's more about the principle that he thinks he deserves to retain the rights :-)

Having said that I know people who have the rights to tow caravans but can't reverse the damn thing and refuse to use the mirror extenders (which is actually a legal requirement for good reason) yet are legally allowed to drive around causing near miss accidents all over the place. Yet I'd have to take a test to prove I was capable of towing a caravan (and rightly so). But you can't go retrospectively taking rights from people who passed a test pre-1997, that's just not practical.

st999

So what does AM/A/B1/B/BE/f/g/l/n/p/q mean I can drive on my licence which I passed my test in 1964 and had to renew because I turned 70 2 years age.

WestonDave

Presumably the OP, in the interests of fairness has voluntarily re-taken their driving test every time the criteria changed since they passed originally? Nope thought not....

AdrianC

Kate/Bob wrote: »

Damn it, I actually did my CBT many (far to many to remember) years ago and then never did anything with it anyway. Now I discover I didn't even need to bother!

You do if you want to ride anything over 50cc, though.

st999 wrote: »

So what does AM/A/B1/B/BE/f/g/l/n/p/q mean I can drive on my licence which I passed my test in 1964 and had to renew because I turned 70 2 years age.

https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence
shows you EXACTLY what you personally can drive, explaining each category.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Another aspect to consider, is that when I learned to drive, it was not unexpected that a car would stall and not restart again and you had to fiddle with the choke and get it just at the right setting which varied car by car, and by how warm it was outside and how long the car had been standing. No power steering so parking and three point turns were a real laugh a minute. In an emergency stop it was a lottery what side of the road and which way you'd be facing, throttles had dead spots so all of a sudden you might find that the car would hesitate (certainly did when I tried to make progress on my test). Handling of heavier vehicles was vile - the Commer van with the very narrow front wheel base to cope with enclosed wheels. The car I took my test in was a 10 year old Vauxhall Viva HB had a 0-60 of about 20 seconds.

Aylesbury_Duck

WestonDave wrote: »

Presumably the OP, in the interests of fairness has voluntarily re-taken their driving test every time the criteria changed since they passed originally? Nope thought not....

:T

Well done sir!

Mercdriver

IanMSpencer wrote: »

The car I took my test in was a 10 year old Vauxhall Viva HB had a 0-60 of about 20 seconds.

And that was the sport model