Code 01

Code 01 records a condition attached to a driving entitlement: eyesight correction. If your eyesight only meets the driving standard when you use glasses or contact lenses, put them on before moving the vehicle and keep them on throughout the journey. The condition is attached to the licence, so a short trip, a familiar route and daylight do not remove it. The wording on GOV.UK includes both glasses and contact lenses; it does not name one particular pair or brand.

Look at the back of your photocard. The categories show what you may drive, while the numbered codes beside them state conditions. Read the code against the category row where it is printed. An eyesight code does not itself add a car, motorcycle or lorry entitlement. It controls how you exercise an entitlement you already hold.

GOV.UK sets out several parts of the eyesight standard for driving a car or motorcycle. You must be able to read a number plate from 20 metres, with glasses or contact lenses if necessary. You must also have visual acuity of at least 6/12 on the Snellen scale, or 0.5 on the decimal scale, and an adequate field of vision. Passing the plate check alone is not a full clinical assessment of the other requirements. If you are concerned about them, ask an optician to test you rather than attempting to judge from a driveway.

The number plate check uses a real plate, so lighting, dirt and the exact lettering can make an informal trial misleading. The legal question is whether you meet the published standard, with the correction you use on the road. A prescription can change between licence renewals. If you start to need glasses to pass, wear them while driving even if code 01 has not yet appeared on a replacement photocard. The duty to see properly does not wait for the plastic card to be printed.

Lorry and bus drivers face different, tighter eyesight standards. The GOV.UK eyesight page states 6/7.5 in the better eye and 6/60 in the other eye, with glasses or contacts where allowed, and a horizontal visual field of at least 160 degrees. Those figures are not the car standard. A driver who has several category rows must look at the standard relevant to the vehicle being driven and the conditions recorded against that entitlement.

You declare an eyesight issue when you apply for a licence or when DVLA asks for medical information. The driving test starts with a number plate reading. GOV.UK says that if you cannot read it, you fail, the test does not continue, DVLA is told and your licence is revoked. DVSA's examiner guidance offers a second plate after a failed first reading, then measures the exact distance with a tape for a third plate before recording a fail. If you need your spectacles to read the plate, wear them for the test and for driving afterwards. The code on a later licence reflects the condition associated with that entitlement.

Some eye conditions must be reported separately. The GOV.UK eyesight guidance says to tell DVLA about a problem affecting both eyes, or your only seeing eye. Ordinary short sight, long sight and colour blindness do not have to be reported solely for those reasons. A person can therefore need ordinary glasses while driving without having a separately notifiable medical condition. If another eye diagnosis is involved, check the condition-specific GOV.UK page rather than treating the broad exemption for refractive error as advice about that diagnosis.

For a notifiable condition, use GOV.UK's driving medical conditions service to find the declaration route. DVLA can request information from your doctor or consultant, arrange an eyesight test or ask for a driving assessment. It then writes with its decision. Keep that letter: it explains whether you may drive, the categories affected and what evidence DVLA considered. A new prescription alone is not a substitute for a formal licensing decision where DVLA has imposed a condition.

An operation or a new prescription does not automatically update the photocard. GOV.UK says you do not need to tell DVLA about surgery to correct short sightedness if you can meet the eyesight standards afterwards. That is a reporting rule, not a promise that a printed restriction has been removed. If code 01 remains against your entitlement and you believe you no longer need correction, ask DVLA how to have the condition reviewed. Have a current optician's assessment ready and wait for DVLA to confirm any change to the licence record.

The reverse also matters. If surgery leaves you needing correction, you must meet the standard whenever you drive, regardless of what an older photocard says. If you have been told not to drive while recovering, follow that instruction. DVLA's general medical decision process can involve a clinical report or an eyesight assessment. It may permit driving subject to conditions, ask for further evidence, restrict an entitlement or withdraw it. Only DVLA can tell you how the licensing record has been updated.

Where DVLA refuses or revokes an entitlement on medical grounds, its decision letter gives the route for further evidence or reapplication. GOV.UK also sets out appeals: in England and Wales a magistrates' court appeal is within 6 months, while in Scotland the sheriff court period is 21 days. Those are routes for a licensing decision, not a way to ignore a code while a request to change it is pending.

The Road Traffic Act 1988 makes driving while unable to meet the prescribed eyesight standard an offence. It also allows a constable to require an eyesight test and specifies that the driver may use only the correction worn while driving for that test. This is why leaving your glasses on the passenger seat is not a sensible plan. Separately, a code on the licence states a condition of the entitlement. Driving outside that condition creates a licensing problem even if you have driven the route many times without incident.

Do not rely on a generic points or fine figure for every possible eyesight case. The exact offence depends on the facts. GOV.UK's endorsement code list gives MS70, driving with uncorrected defective eyesight, and MS80, refusing to submit to an eyesight test, at 3 penalty points each. If police stop you, give accurate details of the correction you were using. If a collision occurs, tell your insurer truthfully about the licence condition and the circumstances. The policy wording and facts will matter to any insurance decision; there is no automatic outcome established by the code alone.

If you cannot find a usable pair before a trip, arrange another driver or another means of travel. If your vision has deteriorated despite correction, stop driving and obtain an eye examination. A replacement lens or new spectacles may solve the immediate problem, but a clinical change can also trigger a duty to notify DVLA. Use the relevant condition page to check that duty.

A hired car still uses your category B entitlement, so an eyesight condition attached to that row follows you into the rental vehicle. A hire desk may ask to see the photocard and may use a check code to inspect your driving record. GOV.UK says a View your driving licence check code is valid for 21 days. Give the company a current code when it asks; do not assume the booking website has already checked your restrictions.

Code 01 is one of the harmonised codes 01 to 99 listed in Annex I of the European driving licence directive. The restriction is visible on your UK photocard even when the vehicle is driven outside Britain. Take usable correction and a spare when travelling, and check the destination's licence and insurance requirements before departure. Foreign authorities may also apply their own eyesight rules. Code 01 does not turn a UK category into an overseas category or excuse you from local restrictions.

Aisha uses contact lenses for her commute and notices one has torn just before leaving. Her category B row carries code 01. DVLA's code wording allows eyesight correction such as glasses or contact lenses, so she can wear her current prescription spectacles if they let her meet the driving standard. Putting the damaged lens away and keeping the spectacles in their case while driving would not achieve that. She checks she can see clearly through the pair before setting off.

Ben holds car and lorry categories and has code 01 printed beside an entitlement. He should not treat a successful car number plate check as proof of fitness to drive the lorry. GOV.UK publishes stronger Group 2 requirements, including the better-eye and field measures set out above. He asks his optician to assess the relevant standard and checks whether the code is recorded against each category he plans to use. If a professional driver loses an entitlement, the income impact makes the written DVLA decision especially important.