Over 70 Driving Licence Renewal

Baz

I don't know about towing a caravan but if you want to retain your Class 1 licence to drive up to 7,5 tons you will need to complete a medical questionaire.
You need the Class 1 to drive a motorhome plated at above 3500kg which many are.

Emgee

Yes all above correct. You will loose your 7.5 tonne limit if you apply online. To retain it you have to do it in writing with a medical declaration. Cousin just did his. No doctors note though. Just a declaration & then wait months for the licence to come back. His took over 2 1/2 months, but he now still has his 7.5 tonne limit on his. I won't bother as i have only ever driven a large commercial once many yrs ago. How many 70 year olds want to drive Heavy goods.

Steve.

I sent in my renewal on 7th July and am still waiting. I know they have got it as they returned ID info a few weeks ago.

Not many 70 year old want to drive HGV but there are a lot who drive motorhomes exceeding 3500kg maximum gross weight.

Emgee

Edited By Emgee on 01/12/2021 02:21:27

Noel:-

Being a type 1 diabolic since the age of 7, I've had to renew my license every three years since I got it in 1975. In 1999 I lost all the decent towing and luton van type categories out of the blue. There was a nice explanatory note that said that If I could prove that I had been driving over 3 1/2 tonners or large trailers for a minimum of 20 hours per week for several years, that I could get the classes reinstated on production of evidence and a health certificate.

Bah! Humbug! Bloody tin pot dictators!

Edited By Mark Rand on 01/12/2021 08:49:11

If you are up to date with happenings at DVLA via current news channels, you should know that postal applications take months (bit like tax office). Online application has always been simple to complete, same as poasspoirt renewal and tax renewal, and item received very quickly.

If you have applied via post, don't hold your breath.

It would seem that I am not the only one feeling a bit peeved with the DVLA. This quote (from April 2021) throws a little light on the matter:

'The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has confirmed to HonestJohn.co.uk that some drivers who are applying to renew their driving licence as they turn 70 will not be able to apply online. This leaves a postal application as the only option, with the DVLA saying it will take approximately six weeks to receive the new licence back.' [Click Link for Full Article]

I still can't see why my on-line application was rejected, I supplied the required data and I have a current passport. The passport ran consecutively from my old passport so the required 'digital signature' should still be on file!

Oh well, I shall just have to wait. I wonder if my new/renewed licence will turn up before my birthday in February?

John

John, if you are lucky it might turn up before the next renewal has to be applied for. ❗️Dave W

Gentlemen ! For those extolling the benefits of renewal on line at 70 and keeping the categories you have YOU CAN'T ! Please READ my first post. It can ONLY be done BY POST, you will require the paperwork to be signed by a registered medical practioner, including an eye test. On line will give only the right to drive small cars and vans/trucks. Mine was done 2 years ago so things may have changed - probably got worse ! Noel

Yes that is so but I only need to drive a car so on-line would have suited me fine. In fact I gave consideration to not bothering to renew and getting rid of the car. I do many more miles on my bike than I do in the car and it sits in the garage with the battery draining most of the time. I have a bus pass, I can still walk and there are some reasonable local taxi firms about. It would probably be cheaper to dispose of the car but the convenience outweighs cost, just!

John

I had to renew by post at age 70, but since then i have done it on line with no problems.

I am due to renew again at age 82 next year, (if i last that long ,) but i will hand in my licence then as i feel that i would be a danger to myself and others.

I made the mistake of applying on line when I reached 70 and lost entitlement to drive our motorhome, which is a Hymer-type Niesman-Bischoff. Do not do this! My GP was going to charge £150 for a medical, but a friend did it for nothing. (He is a GP and now my GP.) The whole business took ages.

Wait till you get to 80, that,s when the fun really starts !

Larry, must be a person thing, I am 85+ and have not had a problem

When my renewal came due at 70 I don’t recall any information about losing classes of vehicles that I was previously licensed for, maybe I missed it. My days of driving heavy vehicles is gladly in the past, I remember in 70’s when I was in the Air Force, driving old Bedford tankers full of de-icing fluid, in the depths of winter, albeit within the confines of the Station not on public roads, you needed to be Hercules there was no power steering and the gearboxes were awful, definitely don’t miss it. Dave W

The point I was trying to make in reference to Baz renewing his licence immediately rather than waiting 18 months till the compulsory renewal date is because it will be easier to change his paper licence now for a plastic one with photo and also easier again when he is 70. Renewing a paper licence at 70 could be more problematic.

My last 4 plastic licences all have the same photo, although the mean DVLC ditched the nice colour photo for cheap monochrome in the last 3.

As a insulin injecting Diabetic I have to renew my licence every three years, I've done this since 2015, at the beginning of this year I received a reminder and went on line for the first time and failed for the same reasons of others, my passport is no longer current and will not be renewed so I filled in the paperwork and posted it off, in eight days I had my new licence.

Martin P

I swapped from paper to plastic when I reached 70. Totally painless on line, but by all accounts the DVLA has fallen apart due to Covid, so get in as early as possible. I'm not sure what happens if your old one expires before the new one is issued due to their ineptitude. I'll not go on too long or politicians might decide to let Capita run it and then we will be in trouble

Don't forget folks, you are supplying information into a system and if it does not fit the algorithm it will simply be rejected. Nobody is qualified, able or allowed to apply common sense to your application.

Everything normal and it flies through.

Anything even slightly different diverts into a sideroad where it is handled by people not understanding medical issues, refer it to others outside DVLA who do (maybe) and they both blame each other for non-response and don't care.

I would think long and hard before submitting anything out of the ordinary that is minor or marginal. Not suggesting you should be dishonest of course.

Renewed my license earlier this year "On line" with no problems at all, despite mine having expired and me being over 70.

Regards Ian.