Driving licence
Driving licence categories
Column 9 of the photocard, in DVLA's own words. What each entitlement covers, what it weighs, and where the ages went.
26
3,500kg
4,250kg
Checked on 18 December 2024.DVLA, Driving licence categories (as of 18 December 2024)
What are the driving licence categories?
They are the entitlements on the photocard, one row each: AM for a moped, A1, A2 and A for motorbikes, B for a car, C for a lorry, D for a bus, plus the E variants for towing and a handful of specialist categories for tractors and rollers.
Northern Ireland categories are different, and DVLA says so at the top of its own page. The categories below are the ones on a Great Britain photocard.
Every category
Mopeds
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| AM | Two and three wheeled vehicles with a maximum design speed over 25km/h (15.5mph) but not more than 45km/h (28mph). It also covers light quad bikes with an unladen mass of not more than 425kg. | 16 |
| P | Two wheeled vehicles with a maximum design speed over 45km/h (28mph) but not more than 50km/h (31mph), with an engine not over 50cc. | 16 |
| Q | Two and three wheeled vehicles without pedals, with an engine not over 50cc and a maximum design speed not over 25km/h. Trial e-scooters fall under this category. | 16 |
Motorcycles
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | Light motorbikes up to 125cc with a power output up to 11kW and a power to weight ratio not more than 0.1kW/kg, plus motor tricycles with a power output up to 15kW. | 17 |
| A2 | Motorbikes with a power output up to 35kW and a power to weight ratio not more than 0.2kW/kg, plus everything in category A1. | 19 |
| A | Motorbikes with a power output over 35kW or a power to weight ratio over 0.2kW/kg, motor tricycles with a power output over 15kW, and everything in categories A1 and A2. | 24 |
Light vehicles and quad bikes
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | Motor vehicles with four wheels up to 400kg unladen, or 550kg if they are designed for carrying goods. | Not published |
Cars
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| B | Vehicles with up to 8 passenger seats and a maximum authorised mass up to 3,500kg, or up to 4,250kg for a zero emission vehicle. You can tow a trailer with a maximum authorised mass up to 3,500kg, provided the combined mass of vehicle and trailer does not exceed 7,000kg. | 17 |
| B (pre 1997) | Anybody who passed a car test before 1 January 1997 is generally allowed to drive a vehicle and trailer combination up to 8,250kg maximum authorised mass, and to drive a minibus with a trailer over 750kg maximum authorised mass. | 17 |
| B auto | A category B vehicle, but only an automatic one. Every electric car counts as an automatic, so this is the entitlement a great many recent passes hold. | 17 |
| BE | A vehicle with a maximum authorised mass of 3,500kg towing a trailer. If the valid from date against BE on your licence is before 19 January 2013 you can tow any size trailer within the towing limits of the vehicle. If it is on or after that date you can tow a trailer with a maximum authorised mass of up to 3,500kg. | 17 |
Medium-sized vehicles
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | Vehicles between 3,500kg and 7,500kg maximum authorised mass, with a trailer up to 750kg. | Not published |
| C1E | Category C1 vehicles with a trailer over 750kg. The combined maximum authorised mass must not exceed 12,000kg. | Not published |
Large vehicles
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| C | Vehicles over 3,500kg with a trailer up to 750kg maximum authorised mass. | Not published |
| CE | Category C vehicles with a trailer over 750kg maximum authorised mass. | Not published |
Minibuses
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| D1 | Vehicles with no more than 16 passenger seats and a maximum length of 8 metres, with a trailer up to 750kg maximum authorised mass. | Not published |
| D1E | Category D1 vehicles with a trailer over 750kg maximum authorised mass. The combined maximum authorised mass must not exceed 12,000kg. | Not published |
Buses
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| D | Any bus with more than 8 passenger seats, with a trailer up to 750kg maximum authorised mass. | Not published |
| DE | Category D vehicles with a trailer over 750kg maximum authorised mass. | Not published |
Other categories
| Category | What it lets you drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| f | An agricultural tractor, and the trailers a tractor is built to tow. | Not published |
| g | A road roller, which is a category of its own rather than part of the lorry entitlement. | Not published |
| h | Tracked vehicles, which run on tracks rather than on wheels. | Not published |
| k | A mowing machine, or a vehicle controlled by somebody walking beside it. | Not published |
| l | An electrically propelled vehicle, a category that predates the modern electric car. | Not published |
| m | Trolley vehicles, which draw current from overhead wires rather than carrying fuel. | Not published |
| n | Vehicles exempt from duty, which is a licensing classification rather than a vehicle type. | Not published |
Ages: what is published and what is not
- 10 of the 26 categories have an age published on a GOV.UK page this site can cite.
- 16 do not, because DVLA removed the age column from the categories page in December 2024.
- The lorry, minibus and bus ages in particular are only available through GOV.UK's interactive tool, which is a question and answer flow rather than a published table.
- Rather than printing an age from memory, those rows say the figure is not published.
The minimum age for the C, C1, D and D1 categories is not published, so there is no figure here. When it is published this page will carry it.
Notes DVLA publishes alongside the list
- Driving licence categories are different in Northern Ireland, and DVLA says so at the top of its own page.
- You do not need a driving licence for electric bikes, mobility scooters or powered wheelchairs.
- DVLA removed the minimum ages from the driving licence categories page in December 2024. Where an age is shown below it comes from the separate GOV.UK page that still publishes it, and where none is shown the page says so rather than filling in a figure.
- Category BE is no longer earned by a test in Great Britain. DVLA adds it to a category B licence at the next renewal, and DVSA publication INF30 sets out what that means in practice.
Common questions
- What can I drive on a category B licence?
- Vehicles with up to 8 passenger seats and a maximum authorised mass up to 3,500kg, or up to 4,250kg for a zero emission vehicle. You can tow a trailer up to 3,500kg, provided the combined mass does not exceed 7,000kg.
- Do I need a separate test to tow a trailer?
- Not in Great Britain any more. The car and trailer test was withdrawn, and DVLA adds category BE to a category B licence at the next renewal rather than after a test. The towing limits of the vehicle itself still apply.
- What does B auto mean?
- You passed in an automatic, so you may only drive automatics in that category. It shows as category B with code 78 or code 106 against it. Every electric car counts as an automatic, so a great many recent passes hold it.
- Why are the minimum ages missing for lorries and buses?
- Because DVLA removed them from the categories page in December 2024. Where an age is shown on this page it comes from a separate GOV.UK page that still publishes it. Where none is shown the page says so rather than printing an unsourced figure.
Sources
- DVLA, Driving licence codes (as of 20 December 2024)
- DVLA, Driving licence categories (as of 18 December 2024)
- DVSA, Riding a motorcycle, moped or motor tricycle (as of 23 January 2025)
- DVSA, Driving lessons and learning to drive (as of 7 September 2026)
- Department for Transport, DVLA and DVSA, Towing with a car (as of 11 March 2015)
- DVSA, INF30: requirements for towing trailers in Great Britain (as of 7 September 2026)
- DVLA, Vehicles you can drive (as of 7 September 2026)