The minimum age for driving and learning to drive in the UK is 17 years for cars and motorcycles, 18 years for medium sized vehicles and 21 years for large Lorries and buses. 

Is your driving license valid in the UK?

If you hold an EC/EEA driving license, you’ll be glad to hear that you can drive in the UK without any worries. You don’t need to take any new tests, do any training or even exchange your license, although the majority of you will have to get used to driving on the left-hand side of the road!

While you are in the UK, your current license will allow you to drive a car until the age of 70, as long as you are at least 17.

Once you are insured on a car, you can start driving straight away (unless you have any illnesses which might affect your driving - when you should inform the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) immediately).

However, you also have the option to register with the DVLA as a car driver with an EC license. If you do this you will receive a British license counterpart. A modern UK driving license consists of a photo-card and the counterpart - this is the paper part of our driving license. This means if you receive any fines for traffic offences, you will get fixed penalty points (see below) rather than having to go to court, which you would if you have only an EC license.

If you don’t really need to keep your original license, you can simply exchange it for a British one by contacting the DVLA.

Holders of non-EC/EEA licenses

If you hold a driving license from a non-EU/EEA country, the rules are different. You can drive legally in the UK under your current license for up to 12 months. But you must pass a British driving test if you want to carry on driving after this period. This means if you don’t want to have a period of time where you cannot drive, you must obtain a provisional license from the DVLA and pass the test within twelve months of moving to the UK.

To apply for a provisional license, you need to complete a D1 form, which you can get from any Post Office or order on the internet. You need to complete this form and send it to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1AD together with a fee (£50.00 in Summer 2010), a passport-size photograph and some documentation proving your identity. You should expect it to take about three weeks for the DVLA to send your license.

If you do not want to keep your original license, you can choose to exchange your foreign license for a British one if you are from Gibraltar or one of the fifteen designated countries listed, below:

Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands***, Hong Kong, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea***, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and Zimbabwe.
  
The fee for taking a driving theory test is £31.00 (Summer 2010) for a normal car and motorcycle licence. The fee for the practical test is £62.00 during weekdays and £75.00 during weekday evenings and weekends. Once you have passed both theory and practical tests you are entitled to a full UK driving licence. If you need driving lessons in the UK they are priced at approximately £20 an hour and a great number of driving schools exist.

You can start looking for driving schools in our "Find a..." section now.

By John Hillman

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USEFUL WORDS 

An Official Document

Provisional Licence = the document you receive so that you can learn to drive

Full Driving Licence = the document you receive when you have passed your driving test

Photocard = a plastic, credit card sized licence containing a photograph of you and your personal details

Counterpart Driving Licence = a paper sheet which contains your personal details and information on any driving offences

Family name = surname
Given name(s) = your first (& second) name
Date and place of birth = when and where you were born
Issuing date = the date when your licence was produced
Expiry date = the date your licence finishes
Issuing authority = the office which sent you your licence
Signature of bearer = your signature (bearer = owner of the licence)
Licence categories = the types of vehicle you are permitted to drive
Restrictions = the types of vehicles you are not permitted to drive

Points system = drivers receive points for every traffic offence they commit

DVLA = Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency = the organisation which deals with all vehicle and personal licensing in the UK

valid = legally or officially acceptable

Learning to Drive

Learner plates (‘L plates’) = a large red ‘L’ on a white background which must be displayed on a car which is being driven by a learner driver

Driving instructor = a person who teaches driving lessons

automatic car = a car with internal gears which change automatically

manual car = a car in which you have to change the gears yourself
motorway = a wide road with a least 2 lanes in each direction, where traffic can travel fast for long distances between large towns
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The Driving Test

theory test – tests your knowledge of road signs, rules of the road etc.

hazard perception test – tests the speed at which you can recognise dangerous situations

supervised driving examination – the practical driving test

GRAMMAR SPOT

Must

Must is a modal verb and is used like an auxiliary before the infinitive of the main verb:

I must learn to drive soon

You mustn’t drive in England without a licence

Must can be used with simple, continuous and perfect infinitives:

Simple: You must complete the theory test before the practical

Continuous: She must be driving her mother’s car because she doesn’t have one

Perfect: Tom must have passed his driving test, he looks so happy!