Confusion on Driving Licence

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.
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.