Have I been April fooled or something as I've just read on my news feed on the Google home page that this government has now brought in a license renewal for all over 55's in the UK not only is this a right pain in the arse every three years the medical side of it is quite strict with evidence required for eyesight abilities and general health questions which if not answers to dvla guidelines more evidence has to be provided and medicals attended for certification to prove fit to drive obviously the medical will cost plus there is a renewal charge of £14 online or £17 by post I hope all the population who voted these idiots into power are really proud of themselves and are being more inconvenienced than those who used their vote more sensibaly God help us what next
Not sure if this is real or fake news - reports I've seen seem to be from unusual sources, some say for drivers over 62, some say over 55. I'm over 70 anyway and have to renew every 3 years anyway.....
They are probably all true at some point as this government loves to back pedal on all their policies as soon as they get blow back from some community or another
Fake news methinks! Currently over 70's have to renew the licence every 3 years, there is a medical requirement if you wish to retain certain classes (HGV) but for cars and motorcycles all that is needed is for you to self declare that you are fit and able to pass the eyesight requirements no medicals required and there is no fee to renew. As an aside there is a movement to try and get at least a requirement for a certificate from an optician confirming eyesight up to standard following a spate of fatal collisions involving older car drivers killing pedestrians where the car driver had seriously defective eyesight, one motorist had difficulty in reading a number plate from 6 metres!
And he hadn't even had one balloon. Surely there are more accidents caused by younger drivers showing off their skills in popping and banging boy racer cars, off their heads on hippy crack?
Me too, its almost certainly AI generated click bait. One reason why I keep all cookies off and get my news from established sources.
There's so much crap on the internet these days I'm at the point of turning all newsfeeds off. Im an F1 fan (sorry) and there must be 10 fake stories each day about this or that. All crap/clicbait/crap. Don't get me started on AI generated video, apart from the recent South Park episode obviously......
Me too but more so when the drivers weren't pampered pretty boys like in the days of Damon hill Nigel mansell never could take to Schumacher though
Agreed. So many in the run up to the 8T/8TT launch claiming all sorts of nonsense. New versions of XYZ with odd sized engines... If Motobob and the like have not reported on new models or licence changest then I generally don't believe them.
I haven't been active on the forum for a while, I have been really busy, and also been away at different road racing events, I meant to do a write up and photos from the IOM S100. Anyway I have just seen this post re 55s and over for driving licence renewals, this is fake news, the government are currently only implementing a licence overhaul for drivers aged 70 and above (note currently), as we all know drivers reaching 70 are required to renew their licence every 3 years, however new legislation will require those renewing licences to declare a wide range of medical conditions, these include applicants mental health, depression comes under the criteria, and a whole raft of other conditions. The DVLA are set to announce these new requirements this August, however as yet it has not been included in the current application, for those renewing very shortly the current application is being used. Rather than go into a very lengthy post I have placed a link from from a reputable firm of solicitors that give an overview of the requirements. There is also a move to legislate lowering the drink drive limit from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath to 22 microgames of alcohol in 100 ml of breath, this is in line with Scotland, combined with more severe penalties, nothing proposed on the current drug driving limits, drug driving as it is known is treated the same as drink driving with the same penalties, before I retired the amount of drug driving I saw daily in Court was increasing, the prosecutors had little understanding of the complexities of the way the limits were calculated, and a separate sentencing framework was supposed to be looked at then, and a few years down the line nothing has changed. Personally and I know many may disagree, but any vehicle is potentially lethal when driven or ridden unsafe, for example impairment through drink or drug driving, no different to a shotgun or firearm in the wrong hands, each has the potential to cause harm, and on that basis why is there no requirement to renew a driving licence with the same declarations as for those aged over 70, in my view all licences should be renewed every 10 years, how can it be that after passing the basic test there is no requirement to renew a licence until aged 70, so from 17 to 70 people are free to drive and no requirement to renew, and yes there would be a cost for renewal, however it would make for a more robust and fair system than currently. https://kangandco.co.uk/2025/07/31/...nsure public safety while respecting autonomy.
Funny how older drivers are constantly being written about in the press and we are always being told more legislation is needed for that age group when government figures show that 17-24 year olds are most likely to have an accident......
If there was any truth in this it would have been all over the national news on the main TV channels and not just some dodgy "news" feed. When the internet was first conceived and still in it's infancy it was a very useful tool but it's now infested with so much fake news and AI generated shite we get spoon fed on a daily basis I sometimes wonder if we'd be better off without it. I still have my old, green paper licence, albeit with a few speeding "amendments" added over the years but in a few years time if/when I hit 70 no doubt I'll have to renew it for the plastic ID card type.
The new measures coming in are a good idea IMO but the appeals process will be its achilles heel which will probably take months. You only have to look at the current wait for driving tests to see that.