Twitcher ‘too old’ to drive minibus
End of the road for 70-year-old Ken
FRUSTRATED birdwatching tour driver Ken Reeves has been told he can no longer take the wheel of large minibuses because he is too old.
A founder member of Burbagebirders - a group of amateur birdwatchers which travels the UK and Europe in search of avian antics - he has been told that now he is 70 he is no longer licensed to drive the kinds of vehicles he has been using for the past three decades.
And even if he pays for a medical which could grant him an extension to his licence, vehicle hire firms will not be able to insure him.
Mr Reeves has recently returned from an eightday twitching tour of the Inner Hebrides, Mull, Iona and the Cairngorms, driving a dozen members of Burbagebirders more than 1,500 miles.
He hired a minibus from Sapcote-based D Tallis Hire Ltd, where staff say they have been hiring to him for as long as they can remember.
Mr Reeves said: “I’ve been driving birdwatchers all over the UK for more than 35 years but on reaching the age of 70 the category that allowed me to drive up to an 18 seater mini bus has been automatically removed by the DVLA.
“I’m deemed by them not to be capable of driving a minibus over that age.
“Weirdly, the licence I’m left with covers me to drive a nine-seater.
“Nine, 12, 15 what’s the damn ence?”
A spokesman for D Tallis explained: “Everybody’s licence runs to the day before they are 70.
“You get a form a few weeks before. The DVLA sends this form out in two parts. seats, differ-
“Everybody just signs the front page and gets their licence back and finds they can’t drive more than 3,500kg.
“If they do realise they fill the second part in and have to pay for a medical and they can drive up to 7.5 ton again.
“But our insurers are saying they are not going to insure anyone over 70 for these vehicles. They say 70 is the cut-off point.”
So even if Mr Reeves paid the £150 required for a medical and eye test which could extend his licence to drive larger vehicles for three years, he would not be able to get insurance cover to hire such vehicles.
Which means both Burbagebirders and D Tallis Hire Ltd lose out.
To find out more about Burbagebirders visit www. burbagebirders.co.uk or call Hinckley 274173 or 07900 334371.