Driving Other Vehicles After Your Test

Now that you have successfully passed your driving test and acquired your licence, what exactly are you entitled to drive? Driving other vehicles can be fun, providing of course that you are authorised. Like most pieces of legislation, there are some quirky rules. For example, it is legal for a car driver to drive a steam propelled vehicle with a coal or wood burning engine!

Of course, before attempting to take the wheel of other types of vehicle, it is important that you become familiar with cars first!

Cars and Light Vans

Your entitlement to drive vehicles other than cars largely depends on the category that your licence shows. For example, most new licences will have a Category B entitlement. This means that the licence holder is entitled to drive any car or light van, with or without a trailer, providing the Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) does not exceed 3500kg. The MAM is classed as the weight of the vehicle plus the total weight that it may carry.

If towing a trailer, the total weight of both vehicle and trailer must not exceed 3500kg, and additionally, the fully loaded weight of the trailer must never exceed that of the unladen weight of the vehicle that is being used to tow it. The cut-off weight of 3500kg might at first seem strange, however it has been carefully calculated to ensure that a normal car driver doesn’t take on a vehicle that is much heavier than a standard car or light van. Driving heavy vehicles can introduce additional risks and therefore special training is needed.

Heavier Vehicles

If you wish to drive a Heavy Vehicles, such as delivery lorries, then a Category C licence is needed. This entitles a person to drive a vehicle that is over 3500kg in weight. For articulated lorries, a C+E category is required, meaning that a vehicle over 3500kg in weight with a trailer may be driven.

What About Passengers?

Of course, a normal driving licence for a car or light van allows a person to take passengers. However, a Category B licence only allows vehicles with a maximum of eight seats to be driven. Should the vehicle have nine or more seats, a Category D licence is needed. There is an additional category for minibuses, Category D1. This entitles a person to drive a passenger carrying vehicle that has between nine and 16 seats.

Motorcycles

Motorcycles usually come under either Category P, for mopeds, or Category A, for motorcycles. To make things even more complicated, there are two types of Category A licence, A1 – for motorcycles up to 125cc, and A (full-licence), which allows a person to ride any size of bike.

Other Vehicles

There are several other categories of licence, but these are mainly for specialised vehicles, such as farm tractors, road rollers, and vehicles with tracks instead of wheels. Special training is needed to allow these vehicles to be driven on the public highway.

If in doubt, always check your driving licence before you drive a vehicle other than a standard car or light van. The rules for driving in the UK can be quite complicated, because many changes were made after January 1997, so it is worth looking at your licence first. However, one thing is for sure – the next time that you feel the need to drive a wood-powered engine, you are perfectly entitled to do so!