Man drove without license for 70 years.

[Cycleops]

Just incredible. Drove since he was 12. Stopped by police in Nottingham.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-60159649
No wonder illegal drivers take a chance, with all the implications for other road users.

 

[Time Waster]

As a kid I used to ask my American grandad about his life over there. One of the things I asked about was driving. He admitted that he learnt to drive and got a licence without a test. On moving to the UK he applied for a UK driving licence under some kind of equivalent agreement. So technically he drove his whole life without a licence.

That was long ago now in different times and places. However iirc there was a time when in the UK people could hold a licence having never taken a driving test too. At 70 this guy is too young for that so it's amazing he could get away with it.

 

[cyberknight]

As a kid I used to ask my American grandad about his life over there. One of the things I asked about was driving. He admitted that he learnt to drive and got a licence without a test. On moving to the UK he applied for a UK driving licence under some kind of equivalent agreement. So technically he drove his whole life without a licence.

That was long ago now in different times and places. However iirc there was a time when in the UK people could hold a licence having never taken a driving test too. At 70 this guy is too young for that so it's amazing he could get away with it.

he is 84 if my maths are right born just before ww2, not that its an excuse off course

 

[byegad]

My mother, who would have been 102 now, got her GB licence before WWII and never needed to take a test. She was just 'under the wire' before we instituted compulsory testing. When she finally decided to use her licence, in the 1950s, she took some lessons at a driving school.

 

[Time Waster]

BTW is it any more daft than someone like me who purely by the fact I passed my test 32 years ago I can drive having never answered more than about 3 theory questions and identified 3 signs I've not had my ability to parallel park or a few other very common manoeuvres.

Yet I can drive a 7.5 tonne vehicle with a large trailer that combined can carry up to 22 pallets having never been behind a wheel of such a rig? That's hgv level of loads without any hgv training or experience!

There's more than a few legal possibilities within the system that are quite possibly worse than a driver getting away without a licence for so long assuming of course that time was without accidents or cause to be noticed. As in a safe or model driver who likely would pass a test

 

[Deleted member 1258]

BTW is it any more daft than someone like me who purely by the fact I passed my test 32 years ago I can drive having never answered more than about 3 theory questions and identified 3 signs I've not had my ability to parallel park or a few other very common manoeuvres.

Yet I can drive a 7.5 tonne vehicle with a large trailer that combined can carry up to 22 pallets having never been behind a wheel of such a rig? That's hgv level of loads without any hgv training or experience!

There's more than a few legal possibilities within the system that are quite possibly worse than a driver getting away without a licence for so long assuming of course that time was without accidents or cause to be noticed. As in a safe or model driver who likely would pass a test

Some years ago I got into trouble at work because I refused to drive the 7.5 ton lorry they hired, I'd got 7.5 ton on my licence but refused to drive it unless I had some lessons on it.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I passed my test at 17 but until my mid 30s I didn't own a car and only drove occasionally in hired cars. Being a bit of a worrier I would generally have a couple of refresher lessons if, say, I was off on holiday in a hired car.

 

[annedonnelly]

Snippet on the radio news yesterday. Learner driver stopped by police because he had no one in the car with him. They impounded the car. He went to collect it and drove away without supervision and was stopped again for the same offence. On the same day! A mate came to collect the car the second time. He was stopped for driving while disqualified!!

I don't expect either of them are very concerned about following the rules.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

In the 1980s I went out to live in the States and was required to have an HGV licence for driving certain vehicles at work rather than 'hauling hogs from coast to coast' in an 18 wheeler. Still, I was surprised you could take the test in a regular car. There were 100 multiple choice questions for which they freely publish the answers before hand and then a 5 minute drive around the four sides of a 'city block' in some half abandoned fly blown town in Hicksville without a single traffic light, difficult junction or other moving vehicle. "Congratulations Sir, you've passed!" Really? People fail? "Oh, yes sir, every day".

However, on the flip side, there are some good sides to the US driving licence system: Every seven years (IIRC) you have to go in person to your local licencing office. You sit down in a simulated car driver's seat and have to read some letters directly ahead of you, then over your left shoulder, then your right and finally in the mirror. It only takes less than a minute but weeds out an amazing number of people who are then stopped from driving until assessed further. Then there's the number of checks they run on HGV and commercial vehicles. There are weigh bridges everywhere and if you drive any distance at all you can be expected to be pulled over weighed and vehicle checked for roadworthiness almost every day.

 

[fossyant]

Given the standard of driving in general, I think a license means bugger all.

 

[yello]

I suspect there are a good many unlicensed (yet perfectly safe) drivers on the road.

If you've never taken a test, never held a licence in the first place, then you can go under the radar for as long as you keep your nose clean - or some random chance event catches you out.

 

[DCLane]

My MiL was driving unlicensed for a while after hers expired and the doctor wouldn't sign an extension on medical grounds. She drove for several months before asking whether I'd sign the form for her . Oddly enough, I declined.

She'd not been driving far, but clearly struggled as her Motability car had recent dents all over. They replaced it with a mobility scooter that she was only able to use for 3 months before going permanently into an assisted medical care home, where she's been since.

I'm convinced there are many thousands at least who shouldn't be driving but unless stopped or prevented from doing so by intervention will keep driving.

 

[annedonnelly]

My MiL was driving unlicensed for a while after hers expired and the doctor wouldn't sign an extension on medical grounds. She drove for several months before asking whether I'd sign the form for her . Oddly enough, I declined.

She'd not been driving far, but clearly struggled as her Motability car had recent dents all over. They replaced it with a mobility scooter that she was only able to use for 3 months before going permanently into an assisted medical care home, where she's been since.

I'm convinced there are many thousands at least who shouldn't be driving but unless stopped or prevented from doing so by intervention will keep driving.

I reported a gent who freely told people that the doctor had told him not to drive but he was going to continue driving his Motability car.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon,

....If you've never taken a test, never held a licence in the first place, then you can go under the radar for as long as you keep your nose clean - or some random chance event catches you out.

That's getting less and less true in England as there is a link between some, I don't know how many, ANPR cameras and the Motor Insurance Database (MID).

Insurers are legally obliged to supply private car insurance policies to this database.

However it doesn't follow that a lack of a record in the MID database for a reg number means that there is no insurance policy covering that vehicle, it could be covered by;

• a fleet policy.
• a second car on an any vehicle policy (these tend to be held by collectors or possibly some classic car type policies).
• DOC by the son of the owner who has kept the car but is no longer driving.
• many other reasons.

So it would be pointless for the police to stop every vehicle without a MID record, but certain types of vehicles, say a 20 year old Ford Mondeo, are less likely to be covered if there is no specific record for that reg num.

Of course a person could lie and say that they a licence and have an insurance policy as far as MID is concerned, even if the policy is in fact void.

Bye

Ian

 

[classic33]

Good afternoon,



That's getting less and less true in England as there is a link between some, I don't know how many, ANPR cameras and the Motor Insurance Database (MID).

Insurers are legally obliged to supply private car insurance policies to this database.

However it doesn't follow that a lack of a record in the MID database for a reg number means that there is no insurance policy covering that vehicle, it could be covered by;

• a fleet policy.
• a second car on an any vehicle policy (these tend to be held by collectors or possibly some classic car type policies).
• DOC by the son of the owner who has kept the car but is no longer driving.
• many other reasons.

So it would be pointless for the police to stop every vehicle without a MID record, but certain types of vehicles, say a 20 year old Ford Mondeo, are less likely to be covered if there is no specific record for that reg num.

Of course a person could lie and say that they a licence and have an insurance policy as far as MID is concerned, even if the policy is in fact void.

Bye

Ian

And if issued with a "producer" or asked to bring the documents into a police station?