Licence codes, forms and endorsements
Since 2023 a licence names the vehicles you may drive by code, and the note on who may drive what shows which old class each code replaced. This note is the rest of the licence: what each code asks of you, what one code lets you drive besides its own, the forms, the fees, and the letters written on a licence after an offence. It comes from the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 2023, Statutory Instrument 119 of 2023, and the amendment of January 2025, Statutory Instrument 10 of 2025.
What the test asks
The papers in this app are the VID's own and still ask in classes, so none of their questions come from this note. The test has started to ask about the codes: which code covers which vehicle, how old you must be for it, and what you need before you may learn to drive a bus.
What each code needs
| Code | What it covers | Youngest |
|---|---|---|
| A, A1 | Motorcycles | 16 |
| B1 | Tricycles and quadricycles | 16 |
| B, BE | Light motor vehicle, 2,300 kg net or less; BE draws a trailer | 16 |
| C1, C1E | Smaller heavy vehicles | 18 |
| C, CE | Goods vehicle of 7,500 kg gross or more; CE draws a trailer | 18 |
| BÊ | Agricultural, industrial and construction tractors | 18 |
| D1, D1E | Bus with 9 to 16 seats besides the driver's | 30 for hire |
| D, DE | Bus with more than 16 seats besides the driver's | 30 for hire |
Before you may learn on any D code you must have held a full licence for the B or C codes for five years. To carry passengers for hire in a bus or kombi you must also be thirty, with five years of driving behind you. A driver between twenty five and thirty who already did so before January 2025 carries on. The regulations name C1 without saying where it ends.
What one licence also lets you drive
- D or DE also covers D1, D1E and BÊ.
- C or CE also covers C1, C1E and BÊ.
- B, BE, D1 or D1E also covers BÊ.
- A licence for the C codes drives a D bus that carries no passengers, or carries only the people going to repair it.
A full licence also counts as a learner's licence for certain other codes, so you go straight to the driving test for them. On B or BE that is A, A1, B1, BÊ, C, C1 and C1E.
The forms
| Form | What it is |
|---|---|
| R.T.L.D. 1 and 2 | Authority for a tractor driver's permit, and the permit |
| R.T.L.D. 3 | Learner's licence; 3a and 3b for a bus |
| R.T.L.D. 4 | Certificate of competency, given when you pass the driving test |
| R.T.L.D. 5 | Driver's licence |
| R.T.L.D. 6 | Medical or optical certificate |
| R.T.L.D. 7 | Notice to apply for a duplicate licence |
| R.T.L.D. 8 | Receipt for the fee |
| R.T.L.D. 9 | Application for a certificate of competency or a licence; 9A for a learner's licence |
Every code goes through the same forms. Only the bus codes have a learner's licence of their own.
What you hand in, and how long it lasts
- For a learner's licence: every licence you already hold, proof of your date of birth if the examiner asks, two specimen signatures and three photographs.
- For a duplicate or for the licence itself: two specimen signatures and two photographs.
- A photograph is recent, clear, full face with no hat, no bigger than 40 by 30 mm and no smaller than 30 by 25 mm, and every one in an application is the same.
- A learner's licence lasts twelve months.
- The certificate of competency counts as your driver's licence for thirty days.
- The L plate is 150 mm square.
- Refused a learner's licence or a certificate, you have thirty days to ask a magistrate for an inquiry.
The letters for an offence
Two numbers record a condition: 1 for an adapted or automatic vehicle, with a doctor's report on form 6, and 2 for a personal condition such as glasses or an artificial limb. A letter records an offence.
| Letter | Offence |
|---|---|
| A | Driving without due care and attention, or reasonable consideration for others |
| B | Reckless driving |
| C | Negligent driving |
| D | Driving at a speed dangerous to the public |
| E | Driving in a manner dangerous to the public |
| F | Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or both |
| G | An offence under any other law, in connection with driving |
| H | Any other offence |
| I | Failing in your duties after an accident |
| J | Driving with too much alcohol in the blood |
| K | Failing or refusing to take a breath test or give blood |
| L | Prohibited from driving for a period, or for life |
The fees, as set in June 2023
The driving test costs US30 for D1, D1E, C1 and C1E, and US15 to produce the licence once you pass. A duplicate is US50, and an international driving permit or a foreign licence converted US$100. They may be paid in local money at the day's rate. The regulations name no test fee for the tractor code.
The mistakes learners make
BE is a light vehicle with a trailer; BÊ, with the mark over the E, is the tractor. Sixteen seats besides the driver's is still D1, and seventeen is D. The codes did not move the ages: sixteen and eighteen stand, and only the bus went up, to thirty. And some notes passed round learners give trucks an age of twenty five and a weight line at 3,500 kg. Neither is in the regulations.