JayEmm makes some very good points about the current driving licence. It centres about the very young and inexperienced getting into electric cars that can, at least in a straight line, accelerate faster than a supercar. He compares car to bike licence and talks about how that is a superior licence in its methodology. Anyhoo it's through provoking. 

 

 

The topic prompted me to find  my UK car driving license which was issued in 1976 for the princely sum of five pounds.

The stated expiry date is January 2024. Original green print, no picture version and still in the same intact plastic 'wallet'. 

 

At the time the expiry date seemed so impossibly far away.....but here we are and now so close.

 

I can assure you that the power of my early cars were unlikely to break any highway speed limits although the narrow crossply tyres fitted could easily lose adhesion under almost any conditions other than bone dry.

 

Edited 12 July, 20232 yr by Gerrycan

A mandatory retest in the UK after 30 years maximum from your last test passed and an extended test is what is needed 

then the next one 15 years later.

 

Borderline passes of a restest should limit the power / weight of vehicle you can drive, and no carrying other middle age plus passengers, 

or night time driving.  

Edited 12 July, 20232 yr by toot

18 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

The topic prompted me to find  my UK car driving license which was issued in 1976 for the princely sum of five pounds.

The stated expiry date is January 2024. Original green print, no picture version and still in the same intact plastic 'wallet'. 

 

At the time the expiry date seemed so impossibly far away.....but here we are and now so close.

 

I can assure you that the power of my early cars were unlikely to break any highway speed limits although the narrow crossply tyres fitted could easily lose adhesion under almost any conditions other than bone dry.

 

 

Ditto for me, passed test the same year, you had me worried but mine does not expire until I am 70, were you 22 when you passed your test?

 

I have never exchanged mine as I refused to pay again for something that was valid and to keep paying every 10 years.

 

£5 sounds a lot, as much as I paid for my first car, I only earned £16 per week gross.

31 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

Ditto for me, passed test the same year, you had me worried but mine does not expire until I am 70, were you 22 when you passed your test?

 

I have never exchanged mine as I refused to pay again for something that was valid and to keep paying every 10 years.

 

£5 sounds a lot, as much as I paid for my first car, I only earned £16 per week gross.

 

Mine expires when I am 70 as well but that does raise an interesting question about the issue date as I had a motor bike license when I was 16 and passed the car driving test on the second attempt when 17 (I think), but I have no recollection what happened for the 'valid from' date to be from when I was 22.

 

My South Australian driving license covers me for the UK as well so I won't be undertaking any UK retests on my occasional visits as @toot has indicated, not that the concept is a bad idea though.

Each Australian state has its own rules and systems and our local government is putting through laws for a special driving license for high power cars after the tragic death of a young female pedestrian after an (experienced) Lambo driver lost control at urban low speed due to the safety control devices were turned off.

I fail to understand why such high power vehicles, whether ICE or EV, are allowed on public roads anyway.

 

Thinking about it I will have to check whether I need an international driving license for Europe though.

 

Edited 12 July, 20232 yr by Gerrycan
addition

The issue date of my license was in my mid 20's as I had moved home several times and when I finally bought my own place I had the license updated, it was also a way of having the expired endorsements removed and getting a "clean" license, it still retained the correct expiry date of my 70th birthday, maybe something went wrong with yours, at 22 the ages of 64 or 70 would both seem light years away.

2 minutes ago, J.R. said:

The issue date of my license was in my mid 20's as I had moved home several times and when I finally bought my own place I had the license updated, it was also a way of having the expired endorsements removed and getting a "clean" license, it still retained the correct expiry date of my 70th birthday, maybe something went wrong with yours, at 22 the ages of 64 or 70 would both seem light years away.

The date is a mystery but 'seem light years away' would be an understatement as I never was, and am still not, the forward planning type. The important things in life have worked out so far though so I'm not sure I would change much even if I could go back.

I passed my test in 1981 - goodness this thread makes me feel young, and almost sprightly 

 

My salary, for a 37 hour week was £13.76.  Paid in cash.  Don't remember how much my licence was, but I remember driving lessons were £6 a pop and I paid in £1 notes.  Didn't have to wear a seatbelt at the time.  Times have changed.

 

Gaz

 

1 hour ago, Gerrycan said:

 

Mine expires when I am 70 as well but that does raise an interesting question about the issue date as I had a motor bike license when I was 16 and passed the car driving test on the second attempt when 17 (I think), but I have no recollection what happened for the 'valid from' date to be from when I was 22.

 

My South Australian driving license covers me for the UK as well so I won't be undertaking any UK retests on my occasional visits as @toot has indicated, not that the concept is a bad idea though.

Each Australian state has its own rules and systems and our local government is putting through laws for a special driving license for high power cars after the tragic death of a young female pedestrian after an (experienced) Lambo driver lost control at urban low speed due to the safety control devices were turned off.

I fail to understand why such high power vehicles, whether ICE or EV, are allowed on public roads anyway.

 

Thinking about it I will have to check whether I need an international driving license for Europe though.

 

Hi Gerry, IIRC, you will require one in at least some countries. 

Many in the UK lost 'Motor Cycle' rights having passed their test when the DVLA Swansea had a fire a couple of decades back, and HGV licences were coc-cked up. 

 

My Mum liked to remind my Dad that he had not ever passed a driving test, unlike her.

Wartime it was not necessary. They were in prescribed work and my Dads family were Carters & Hauliers and they all drove lorries, busses etc.

 

Found my mums licence just this week. 

(Change of address from Banffshire to Angus.)

 

 

Edited 12 July, 20232 yr by toot

My father never took a driving test and he had his license before the war so it was not for him a wartime exemption, at least thats what I recall him telling me, he said you just bought one in the post office like a dog license, do people still buy them?

 

I had no driving lessons and took & passed my test 2 weeks after my 17th birthday, my license by then was plastered with endorsements for (being caught) driving underage.

Edited 12 July, 20232 yr by J.R.

My dad started driving in 1935 - no test - and stopped driving when he had a stroke at age 89.  I’d never known him not to have a company car or his own after retirement, and had a clean licence throughout.

 

I’m now on 3-year post age 70 licences, having passed my bike test in 63, and car test in 64.  It’s the bike licence that is more concerning, IMO, I passed aged 16 on an old Lambretta, and the following weekend bought a 350 Norton.  Even now I am licenced to ride any high powered bike, regardless of when I last rode.

My dad was born in 1923. 

Edited 13 July, 20232 yr by toot

I passed my car licence in 1979 in a tiny Toyota Corolla. Satnav, reverse sensors and parking cameras were a figment of some mad scientists' mind. Roll on to 2015 when I gained a full motorcycle licence via a 4 day Direct Access course. This taught me a heightened sense of self-preservation, appreciation of road conditions,  tyre contact patch etc.  Riding a motor bike definitely makes you more aware of how blind many car drivers are when overtaking, pulling out of junctions, ignoring prevailing road and weather conditions. The irony is that whilst car technology, BHP, economy, and particularly safety, has improved beyond recognition since the 70's, a lot has deteriorated.  Much heavier traffic, resulting in less tolerant drivers. Terrible  road surfaces  and much more tech inside the cockpit to divert attention away from the road ahead. Additionally safety aids such as ABS, seem to encourage people to drive too close. The current theory test is definitely an improvement, emphasising hazard perception. I know that I would not relish learning to drive a car  in 2023. 

My Father would have been 18 during the transition period, no way was he driving then and had probably only been a passenger a couple of times, I reckon anyone who was old enough to drive before 1935 and who had aspirations to do so one day went out and bought a license.

 

I'm pretty sure the first car he drove and eventually owned was my grandfathers (his FIL) prewar Morris 8 but that was after the war when he had married my mother, she would have been 6 years old in 1935, he was a cradle snatcher but not that bad!!!!

On 13/07/2023 at 11:11, J.R. said:

My Father would have been 18 during the transition period, no way was he driving then and had probably only been a passenger a couple of times, I reckon anyone who was old enough to drive before 1935 and who had aspirations to do so one day went out and bought a license.

 

I'm pretty sure the first car he drove and eventually owned was my grandfathers (his FIL) prewar Morris 8 but that was after the war when he had married my mother, she would have been 6 years old in 1935, he was a cradle snatcher but not that bad!!!!

That makes me feel even older - my first car was a pre-war Morris 8!   Two seater tourer (rag top), given to me by my sister when it failed its MOT - cost me 2/6d for a new reflector, plus tightening up all the front (cart spring) suspension.  Wish I still had it…

 

(that’s it in the background in the pic.  I’m on the left,sitting astride my 350 Norton, wearing my school uniform.)

Edited 24 August, 20231 yr by Baxlin

Cool photo.

 

I cant actually recall the Morris but as the fumes no doubt made me a petrolhead I remember in detail every family car after that.

 

It was many years before I saw a restored one at a car show, I think they were as good as worthless for a very long time, I was shocked at how tiny it was in the flesh but also how much internal space there was, perhaps inspiration for the Mini? It certainly would have been held up as a benchmark which Issigonis knocked out of court!

 

He would turn in his grave were he to see the monstrosities that bear his name today, an absolute insult to his memory.