What Driving Licence Do I Need?

Jamie LeeBlogs

Driving Licence

Looking to pursue driving as a job but unsure of what kind of licence you need?

In this blog, I will outline all the different types of licenses clearly so that at the end you will feel knowledgeable and have the ability to distinguish the driving licence(s) you need.

Small Vehicles

For the smaller jobs, you can get a Category B+E licence. With this licence, you can drive a vehicle with a MAM (Maximum Authorised Mass). This vehicle can have a trailer up to the weight of 750kg. You can also tow heavier vehicles as long as the MAM is below 3500kg in total.

  • If you acquired your licence before 19 January 2013, you can tow any size trailer
  • If you acquired your licence on or after 19 January 2013, you can only tow trailers with a MAM of under 3500kg
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Medium Sized Vehicles

Medium-sized Vehicles consist of a Category C1 where you can drive a vehicle with a MAM between 3500kg – 7500kg (With a trailer of up to 750kg. Category C1E, you can drive a vehicle with a trailer over 750kg as long as the overall MAM does not exceed 12,000kg.

Driving Licence

Large Vehicles

Minibuses come in two categories, Category D1 where you can drive vehicles with up to 16v passengers, a trailer up to 750kg with a maximum length of 8 metres (total). The alternative is a Category D1E where you can drive a D1 vehicle with a trailer and combined MAM of 12,000kg.

Category C+E licences also fall into this category and they go towards your full category C driving licence to enable you to drive a vehicle over 3.5 tonnes but it must not exceed 32 tonnes. The E part of the category C and E license stands for entitlement and means that the bearer can go up to or over 750kg in weight. This particular driving licence is also known as Class 1, allowing the driver to drive any large goods style vehicle needed, including a double trailer.

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if you are interested in becoming an HGV driver, check out our extensive training courses. This includes Class 1, Class 2, Category B+E and More.

If you would like more information, check out Gov.uk page on how to become a qualified lorry or bus driver