Driving 55 years on a provisional licence

esoteric

esoteric

esoteric

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I was Googling for a spell check and it turned out to be local slang and there was a link for the local newspaper webby, I checked it out and saw another article. This one - http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/lo...-licence-for-55-years-1-7067615#axzz3rvielGrk

So a 71 year old chap from, Gt Yarmouth was driving down here and his tyre blew on the Eastern Road, 1 of the 3 roads in and out of, Portsmouth. It really sucks when things occur on these roads.

The reason I post this is because of the comments from the police rep.

Sergeant David Sanderson said: ‘This person failed their test 50 years ago because they were clearly not safe to drive on the public road.

‘Yet rather than learn from their mistakes they have continued to drive and have therefore put lives at risk.
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Yes I would rather everyone on the roads have a license so I know everyone has had driving training, but his comments make it seem like a drivers licence makes you bullet proof from freak incidents like a blown tyre.
 
esoteric said:
Yes I would rather everyone on the roads have a license so I know everyone has had driving training, but his comments make it seem like a drivers licence makes you bullet proof from freak incidents like a blown tyre.
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It doesn't read like that to me, it's just a general comment on his lack of licence :confused:

To be fair if he's been driving that long he's probably a better driver than many people who pass their test these days.
 
I know someone who drove from 17-22 with no licence whatsoever. He had a nice new VW Polo insured in his mum's name, and as he looks very respectable and always drove sensibly he was never stopped by the police. He now has a licence and his own insurance - the craziest thing about it was that he's from an extremely wealthy family, and the only reason he didn't take his test before was simply because he couldn't be bothered doing the lessons, theory, etc etc.

I'd imagine there's far more people than you'd think driving around with no licence - provided you've got a normal looking car with insurance, tax and MOT, drive sensibly and don't frequent dodgy areas you're pretty unlikely to get stopped.
 
My nan has a war licence, she's never taken her test. Although she has reached the age that she's decided to hang up her driving boots.
 
bledd. said:
My nan has a war licence, she's never taken her test. Although she has reached the age that she's decided to hang up her driving boots.
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My grandma was the same, she learnt to drive buses and ambulances for the war and was just given a license - never took a test!
 
Surely that'll make his insurance invalid? So if he did get involved in an accident and they ran a check it'd be void? if he even had any.... Or would he of just driven off laughing at the other persons misfortune?

But 50 years.... I guess he's only ever purchased used cars and I'd like to think a dealer would check a license...
 
PooKer said:
Surely that'll make his insurance invalid? So if he did get involved in an accident and they ran a check it'd be void? if he even had any.... Or would he of just driven off laughing at the other persons misfortune?

But 50 years.... I guess he's only ever purchased used cars and I'd like to think a dealer would check a license...
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Yes if he had a policy it would be void if he did not have a person that fulfils the criteria for allowing someone with a provisional licence to drive on public roads.
He would ping ANPR cameras as insured though.

A dealer has no reason to check a licence unless they want to take the car for a test drive but even then I've seen times where they've not bothered.
 
tom_e said:
A dealer has no reason to check a licence unless they want to take the car for a test drive but even then I've seen times where they've not bothered.
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I though they had more legal requirements to check when you buy a new car, insurance, license etc but for used cars (or pre-regged) they don't need to check.
 
I assume that everything about this is legal if there's someone in the car with him who holds a license and isn't drunk? Just like a learner....?

The article doesn't mention if he was alone in the vehicle. If he wasn't then the guy could have been doing nothing wrong at all..
 
Skeeter said:
I assume that everything about this is legal if there's someone in the car with him who holds a license and isn't drunk? Just like a learner....?

The article doesn't mention if he was alone in the vehicle. If he wasn't then the guy could have been doing nothing wrong at all..
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Yep as long as he had insurance which he had declared his provisional on and his provisional was in date.
 
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