Confusion on Driving Licence

[jagryan85]

Went on the .gov website before to check my licence details. Cool bit of kit
https://www.viewdrivingrecord.service.gov.uk/driving-record/licence-number

It's got all the details about my licence ect and under catagory A for bike it comes up with this description:

Description
You can drive a motorcycle of a power exceeding 35kW or with a power to weight ratio exceeding 0.2kW per kg, or A motorcycle of a power not exceeding 35kW with a power to weight ratio not exceeding 0.2kW per kg and derived from a vehicle of more than double its power. A motor tricycle with a power exceeding 15kW.

Confused cos it says i can ride a bike of more than 35kw but then says straight after not exceeding 35kw!Am I reading this wrong?! I passed my full bike test about a month and a half ago, direct access on a 650cc Kawasaki Er6, I'm 31, and on my pass certificate under catagory it just says 'A' with no restriction codes.

Have DVLA messed up or is it me being paranoid reading something wrong? Someone else care to check what it says on yours?

Regards
Ryan

[ophic]

It means you can ride bikes either over 35kW or under 35kW, ie any bike. Don't try both at once tho!

[500tie]

I think if I'm reading it correctly that you can ride both bikes with low power and high power to weight ratio's. If it's any consolation mine says exactly the same mate

[jagryan85]

Cheers guys. I don't know why they just don't write something of the line of you can ride any size/power motorbike instead of trying to confuse things by being all technical!

[carelesschucca]

Where's the fun in making things simple...

[Bibio]

moron gov monkeys at their best again. why cant they just say 'a motorcycle of any power and weight'.

[embee]

I guess it's a case of adding categories, the first one you qualify for is the limited power version, then they add the unlimited power version when you qualify for that, otherwise it would mean removing one and replacing it with another completely different one which would inevitably end in tears. Maybe ........

[Fen Tiger]

The wording is certainly ready for a future of voltage velos.

[Littlepeahead]

Mine says any motorcycle you like as long as your feet touch the ground and you can push it into the garage. Which narrows it down to about 3 bikes. [emoji3]

[daktulos]

Mine just says:

You can drive any size motorbike, with or without a sidecar.

Clearly, I need to buy a sidecar now! Some of them are just scary, though:

You can drive vehicles weighing 3,500 to 7,500kg MAM with trailers over 750kg; the fully-loaded trailer can’t weigh more than the vehicle and combined weight of vehicle and trailer can’t be over 12,000kg

It's amazing what they'll let you do with an old car licence!

[jagryan85]

My old work back in 2011 put me through my B+E licence, luckily I didn't have to pay a bean for it and neither did he as it was something the welsh gov were promoting at the time and selected people in certain jobs got it. Bit like the mod 1 test at first but reverse manuvering then you would go out and do a full car test with a box trailer on the back. Crazy that you basically have to do your car test again just to tow something over 750kg! Pointless I guess but I think they didn't want young lads hurtling track cars around on the back like idiots and the gals towing there pride and joy horses around with not a clue in the world. Like anything, its all just a £££ maker.

[embee]

Just as an amusing aside, I was with a couple of friends touring near the Pyrenees in Sept last year and we were stopped at a routing checkpoint. A very young gendarme asked me for my licence. Because I haven't moved house since 1985 it is still a pink paper one. The gendarme had clearly never seen one before and really didn't know what to make of it and quietly asked his colleague what it was all about. A classic gallic shrug and he handed it back, obviously far too much trouble to go into it. My mate had it all on his bike-cam, quite amusing.


My licence doesn't have categories, it has "groups". This nearly caused one insurance company to refuse to renew my policy (which I'd had with them for donkeys' years) because the kid on the phone didn't understand the difference and decided I wasn't covered for bikes.

[BanannaMan]

Across the pond in Trumpville you must first obtain a full car license before you can apply for a motorcycle endorsement which is a Class M on your license.
The process to obtain a full car license is much the same as in the UK, the motorcycle bit however is a joke.

You can either take a fairly easy test (if you study for it) and do some riding maneuvers for the DMV instructor in the car park or pay a few hundred dollars and take class at a local university and do some car park riding on a 125cc and be exempted from the DMV tests to get your motorcycle license, which is a full permit to ride any bike.
This is how the majority of Americans obtain a motorcycle license these days and as most will tell you, because they can't pass the DMV riding test on a full size bike.
They admittedly can't maneuver their own bike around a car park but think they are fine riding on the road. :rolleyes:
And as long s the state makes a few hundred dollars and gives them some safety advice, everyone is fine with it.

[BoltonSte]

I remember my car (golf) and bike (sv) test over there.


Car: Simple theory test, then;
Ex: I would like you to park in that space over there between the cone and car without hitting the either or the curb (massive sleeper)
Me: Do you want me to go in forward or backwards? (Parallel park)
Ex: Whichever you want
Me: OK...off we go
Ex: Where are you going
Me: Where you said
Ex: No this isn't a space (normal size to us) the other side of the cone (you could have fit an artic in there) then out the centre, through a housing estate, turning right all the time, then left into the centre...yes we did a square all in 20/30 mph and that was it.


The bike was more complex, all on a carpark. Swerve test, brake test, U-turn, slalom. I struggled on the slalom.
Ex: it's OK, if you just miss all these cones you'll still pass as it's 3 points, if you clip a cone it's 5 and you'll fail.
Me: So I can just ride past these and ignore them and I'll still pass?
Ex: Yup, it's what all the Hog riders have to do.


Go figure

[Bibio]

i still have my granddads little red book driving licence somewhere. dont think anybody failed the test back then. i also seem to membered that you bought it at the post office.

[Heorot]

My dad never took a test in his life and ended his career driving a PSV vehicle and HGV1's. The army taught him to drive in 1939 and after the war drove for a brewery which gave him grandfather rights.