Make sure you are fully licenced

THE NFU’s transport adviser, Thomas Price, is advising farmers to check their driving licence entitlements to see what they need to drive different types of agricultural vehicles on the road.

He said: “Most people know that in order to drive a tractor on the road a driver needs a category F driving licence.

“There are two ways to get a category F licence: The F category is automatically acquired when a car driving test is passed - the entitlement is linked to car category B.

“Or you can take a stand-alone tractor test, if the test is passed, the applicant is issued with a category F licence.

“This allows the holder to drive agricultural tractors and trailers only, it will not cover any other type of vehicle.

“What about other agricultural machines such as telehandlers?

“A category B licence allows the holder to drive on road other vehicles which are registered as agricultural machines, this includes vehicles such as telehandlers.

“There are however age restrictions on the maximum vehicle weights that can be driven by younger drivers.”

For agricultural vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes the age is 17, for 3.5 to 7.5 tonnes it is 18, and for those more than 7.5 tonnes it is 21.

Tracked vehicles that are steered by their tracks are in a separate H category, there is no automatic entitlement to drive vehicles in category H linked to the B category.

In order to get the driving licence for these vehicles, a driver must take an additional H category driving test, this requirement is sometimes missed by drivers.

If you have a category H vehicle steered by its tracks, check your licence, if you do not have a category H entitlement then you should take the test as soon as possible.