roythebus wrote:
I'm well aware of the age restrictions on PCV and HGV drivers, having just sent my licence away for its annual renewal now I'm over 65!
Well indeed - in view of your obvious knowledge on the subject I was being slightly sarcastic.
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I've not got a problem with people having to have a medical every five years after 45 if they're driving buses or lorries, or every year after 65. That is national law. It is NOT national law for taxi drivers to have to take a driving test at the age of 70.
But it's not national law for taxi drivers to undergo Group 2 medicals, however many LAs have seen fit to require Group 2 standards, and it seems unlikely that a court would strike such a requirement down. (Has such a requirement been challenged anywhere?)
So I don't really see any logical, rational or legal reason why a driving test shouldn't be required at a certain age.
After all, for a while some LAs required drivers to pass the DSA's specific test for taxi drivers (before it was abolished by the DSA) and don't London HC drivers still have to pass some sort of advanced driving test?
So more stringent local requirements regarding driving standards seems perfectly legal and rational, as does age-based discrimination, so the requirement in question doesn't seem particularly irrational.
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PCV and HGV drivers also have to undergo the waste-of-time that is the Driver CPC. That is international law which can be more restrictive than national law (see the current threads on the s19 minibuses). But I digress.
The only driving test I've heard of for the over 65s is after a medical condition, car drivers may have to undergo an assessment to ascertain whether or not they are fit to continue driving. I've taken a couple of old gents to such assessments at a place near Maidstone. Both were advised not to drive again. Both were former professional drivers.
Again, to a degree that merely underlines that the requirement being discussed doesn't seem too illogical.