Retest After Driving Ban

[mariaob1]

i was banned from driving 20 years ago. the judge said i had to have a medical after my ban was finished before i could get my license back. recently ii applied for my license, went to the medical,passed the medical then they sent me a provisional license!the judge did not say i had to resit my test.the dvla said i have to prove this. i asked for records from the court and they said their records dont go back that far. any suggestions please?

[mccfluff]

if you haven't driven for 20 years, its probably not a bad idea that you sit a test,

if you can't prove it, its tough

[Baldric]

Is there a Local Paper Office near you, they usually report on Court Cases and might have records.

[chrissa1]

I don't think it has anything to do with what the judge said, mariaob1.

After 20 years, I would say it is wholly down to the DVLA to say what you have to do, to drive again.

[woofgang]

There is a difference between "The judge did not say I had to resit" and "The judge said I didn't have to resit" If its the former, then I suggest that you resit if you want your licence back.

[ToraToraTora]

You only have to resit if the judge says so, the status quo does not need mentioning. Chrissa, the DVLA merely hold the records they have no say over who has to take a test and who does not they only apply the rules based on their current records. Ok So now we have the case where the DVLA records do not match what your own recollection is. You presumably had a full licence but did not renew it immediately following the ban. Now I don't think there is a vailidity expiration or the DVLA would simply have said "your right to a licence has expired" or similar, so I imagine that this then is another one of many casse where the DVLA have lost records, many have suffered because of this, indeed there was a watch dog special on the subject. Many had to retake tests for livelihoods etc but some where able to get their entitlements reinstated when documentary evidence was produced. Do you have an old paper licence showing your entitlement anywhere? if not you may well have to go through the test again because you have no way to prove your entitlement. For this reason I have kept old licences and photo copies etc. PS Court records wont help because they are not saying you have to do a test because a judge said so they are saying you have to do a test because there is no record of your full licence entitlement.

[New Judge]

What were you banned for?

Some offences carry a mandatory re-test provision (and if so, it has to be an extended re-test). So it could be as 3Ts suggests (i.e. that the DVLA has no record of your entitlement to a full licence) or it could be that the offence you committed carried a mandatory re-test provision.

[sunny-dave]

I think you may be on a loser here, mariaob1 - unless you still have a physical copy of your old licence I can't see how you can prove your entitlement to drive - regardless of any court records.

The DVLA's historical data has more holes in it than a fishing net that has gone a bit holey.

Like TTT I have copies of everything - especially stuff showing my Motorcycle entitlement - they are very fond of losing that when you move to a photocard (which I am resisting at all costs).

[ToraToraTora]

Judge, never heard of any offence carrying a mandatory re test, may be a recent thing, i know the 6 point rule for new drivers but that is fairly new, I don't think there was anything carrying a retest 20 years ago.

[New Judge]

Two that immediately spring to mind are Dangerous Driving and Causing Death by Dangerous driving. There are also a number of offences where Magistrates/Judges can make a discretionary order for a test/re-test to be taken. Causing death by careless/inconsiderate driving is oneof these that I can think of.

[New Judge]

And forgot to add that these provisions stem from the Road Traffic act 1988.

[ToraToraTora]

ok judge fair enough, didn't realise that.

[mariaob1]

thankyou for your help. the conviction was for drink driving. i have no copy of the paper license. suppose ill have to resit my test