Full UK driving license

The Full UK Driving License enables individuals to drive regular passenger vehicles within Category B (i.e. vehicles below 3.5 tonnes). Having a Driving Licence is an important life skill which gives you the freedom to operate a vehicle when required. The Full Driving Licence is issued by DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) and is valid until you are 70 years old, although you are required to renew the photocard every 10 years. There are many jobs that require a Full Driving Licence such as Real Estate Agents and Delivery Drivers.

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Full Uk Driving License UK

Obtained Once you’ve passed your driving test, you receive a full UK driving licence photocard to replace your provisional one. Get Full UK driving license.

This small pink photocard contains lots of useful information. For example, it shows the types of vehicle you can drive, whether manual or automatic, and states your licence expiry date.

Along with your picture, your photocard licence displays your name, address, and date of birth – making it a useful, pocket-sized form of ID to carry with you, even when you’re not driving. Full UK driving license.

Full Uk Driving License UK

Item Number What It Shows
1 Your surname
2 Your title and first name(s)
3 Your date of birth and country of birth
4 4a. Your licence issue date
4b. Your licence expiry date
4c. The licence issuer
5 Your 16-digit driving licence number – a unique code that stays the same on every driving licence you have, including your provisional licence
6 Your photograph
7 Your title and first name(s)
8 Your signature
9 Your address

Full Uk Driving License UK

Look at the back of your photocard and you’ll see it has a table of driving licence categories with four columns. Below, we explain what each of these means.

Item Number What It Shows
9 The vehicle category codes with vehicle icons next to each
10 The start date of your driving eligibility for that category
11 The expiry date of your eligibility for the category
12 Any driving licence codes that are applicable to you

Full Uk Driving License UK

Your driving licence number is unique to you and uses a combination of letters and numbers from your personal information, along with some additional computer-generated ones for extra security. Full UK driving license.

To help explain in more detail how it works, let’s take this example driving licence number:

GRIFFI859053SJ8IK 20

A driving licence number is made up of different sections, and this is how they apply to our example:

A B C D E
GRIFFI 859053 SJ 8IK 20
A – YOUR SURNAME

The first five characters of your driving licence number are the first five letters of your surname. In this example, the surname Griffiths is shown as GRIFFI. If your surname has fewer than five letters, the remaining spaces are filled with the number 9 – for example, the surname KAY would be shown as KAY99.

B – DATE OF BIRTH

The next six digits represent your date of birth. The first and sixth digits are the year you were born, and the second and third show your birth month (‘5’ is added to the second digit if you were assigned female at birth). The fourth and fifth digits are the day of your birth.

C – YOUR FIRST NAME

The following two letters are the initials of your first two names. If you only have one initial, then ‘9’ will be used for the second character.

D – RANDOMISED SECURITY NUMBER

The last three characters are a mix of numbers and letters that have been randomly generated as an extra security measure. Adding these extra digits prevents fraudsters from guessing your driving licence number by using your name and date of birth.

E – LICENCE ISSUE NUMBER

Separated by a space, the last two digits are the issue number. This number increases by one each time you get a new licence.

Full Uk Driving License UK

A provisional driving licence is your ticket to learning how to drive a car and ride a moped or motorbike. It’s illegal to start any driving lessons without one, whether a professional instructor is teaching you, or you’re learning with family or friends. Full UK driving license.