What age do I have to be to get my provisional licence?

Cars
You must be 17 years old to get your provisional licence, but you can apply three months before your 17th birthday.

If you've a Disability Living Allowance at the higher rate you can get your provisional licence at the age of 16.

Motorcycles
You must be aged 17 for motorcycles up to 125cc and not exceeding 14.6bhp.

There are courses called 'Direct Access' courses but they're for riders who are at least 21 years of age. You can't ride on your own until you have passed your test.

How to apply
You can either apply online (see link below) or apply in person or by post. For the latter you must fill in a driving licence application for D1 which you can get from your local post office.

The cost for your first provisional licence is £50.

If applying by post, you must send a passport-sized photo of yourself with one of the following forms of indentification:

• Full Valid Current Passport (or the ref no. if you have a digital one)
• Birth Certificate
• Certificate of Registry of Birth (Provided your name is present on the certificate)
• Adoption certificate
• ID Card issued by a member state of the European Commission/EEA (except Sweden)
• Travel Documents issued by the Home Office
• Certificate of Naturalisation or Registration

Photographs must meet certain criteria and additional documentation is required with birth and adoption certificates - see link below for details.

Completed forms should be sent to the DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1AD

If you don’t want to send your ID documents through the post, you can use the Post Office Checking Service but it costs more. This means that your documents are checked at the post office so you don't have to send them onto the DVLA.

When will I get it?
You should get it within 3 weeks, or 15 working days. If it hasn't arrived within that time, contact the DVLA by writing to:

DVLA, Swansea, SA6 7JL
Tel. 0870-240-0009
(Mon to Fri 8am – 8.30pm, Sat 8am – 5.30pm )

If you've impaired hearing and access to a minicom facility call 01792-782787 during the same hours.

Related Links:

• Applying for a provisional licence
• How to prepare for your theory test