Licence categories and ages
The age at which a licence may be applied for, the age at which it may be held, and the age at which the entitlement runs out are three different questions with three different answers. This page keeps them separate.
The categories, and the age each may be held at
The age to apply and the age to hold are different questions.
Scroll for the age conditions and prerequisites
| Category | What it permits | Age | Must already hold |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | A small vehicle — in the Regulations' own terms, a motor vehicle (other than an invalid carriage, motorcycle or motor tricycle) with a maximum authorised mass not exceeding 3.5 tonnes and not more than eight passenger seats, with a trailer of up to 750 kg. |
| Nothing |
| B+E | A category B vehicle with a trailer where the combination exceeds what category B alone permits. |
| B |
| AM | A moped or light quadricycle. |
| Nothing |
| A1 | A light motorcycle or motor tricycle. |
| Nothing |
| A2 | A medium motorcycle. |
| Nothing |
| A | An unrestricted motorcycle (A3) or motor tricycle. |
| Nothing |
Sourced — legislationRoad Traffic Act 1988 s. 101(1); The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999, reg 9legislation.gov.ukrevised text retrieved 13 August 2026
Where this figure comes from
The age you can apply at is DVLA practice, not a provision
The earliest age at which a first provisional licence may be applied for is published by DVLA. It appears in neither the Road Traffic Act 1988 nor the 1999 Regulations — searched for directly in both, and absent from each. It is stated here as what it is: an administrative practice, not a statutory age.
How long a licence lasts
An age, not a span — and the card is renewed on its own clock.
A car or motorcycle licence runs to the holder’s 70th birthday, or for 3 years, whichever is the longer. That is why the entitlement cannot be quoted as a number of years: for someone licensed at seventeen it runs for decades, and for someone licensed in their late sixties it runs for the minimum.
The plastic photocard is a separate clock. It carries an administrative validity period of 10 years and is renewed with a current photograph. Renewing the card does not renew the entitlement, and letting the card expire does not by itself end the entitlement — the two are routinely confused.
Sourced — legislationRoad Traffic Act 1988, s. 99(1)(a), s. 99(2B)(b)legislation.gov.ukrevised text retrieved 13 August 2026
What the law does not say
No periodic medical certificate is required for a car licence
Group 1 (car and motorcycle) entitlement requires no periodic medical certificate. RTA s. 92 imposes a continuing DUTY to declare a relevant or prospective disability, and the eyesight standard is examined once, in the practical test itself (Sch 8 Part 2 §A). There is no certificate with a validity period to state, which is a finding and not a gap. Group 2 (lorry and bus) entitlement is a different regime and is out of scope here.
Road Traffic Act 1988, s. 92; Sch 8 Part 2 §A of the 1999 Regulations
The first two years after passing
A separate statute, and a separate threshold.
A newly qualified driver is under a probationary regime created by the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995. It is not the general totting-up disqualification with a lower number attached: it is a different statute, it revokes the licence rather than disqualifying from driving, and a new driver is exposed to both mechanisms at once.
The Secretary of State must revoke the licence. The driver reverts to provisional entitlement and must pass both the theory test and the practical test again before a full licence is regranted; the penalty points themselves are not wiped by the revocation.
The threshold, the probationary period and the interaction with the totting-up regime are set out on the penalty points page, which renders them from this site’s penalties data. They are stated in one place rather than two so the two pages cannot drift apart.