Driving licence codes and conditions explained
Published
A driving licence answers two questions, not one. The category letters say what a driver may drive; the numbered codes beside them say under what conditions. The codes are the half most employers skip, and they are the half that decides whether the driver in front of you may lawfully take the vehicle in the yard.
They are printed on the back of the photocard, in the last column of the category table — DVLA label it "Information/restriction codes" — with an overflow area underneath for drivers who carry several. A photo of the front of a licence shows none of them.
A code restricts one category, not the whole licence
This is the misreading to fix first. Codes sit on the row of the category they restrict. A driver can be cleared for manuals on category B and restricted to automatics on category C. In DVLA's own data the conditions arrive nested inside each entitlement, not as a licence-wide list — which is why a conditions column beside each category is the only honest way to show them.
So "this driver has code 78" is not a fact anyone can act on. "This driver has code 78 on category C" is.
The codes that change what you can ask a driver to do
| Code | What DVLA says | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Eyesight correction | Glasses or contact lenses must be worn every time they drive. Driving without them is its own offence, not just a licence breach |
| 78, 106 | Restricted to vehicles with automatic transmission | Automatics only, on that category — not one short trip in a manual |
| 101, 79(NFHR) | Not for hire or reward | The driving cannot be paid carriage. No change of vehicle cures a purpose restriction |
| 97 | Not allowed to drive category C1 vehicles required to have a tachograph fitted | Blocks regulated commercial work on that C1. DVLA's own data words it differently again — "leisure purposes only" |
| 102, 124 | Drawbar trailers only | No articulated or fifth-wheel semi-trailer |
| 105, 123 | Not more than 5.5 metres long | A length cap. Completely invisible to a category-only check |
| 107, 79(<8250KG) | Not more than 8,250 kg | The pre-1997 ceiling on vehicle and trailer combined. It is an uplift above C1's 7,500kg, not a cap below it — measure the combination, not the van |
| 111, 113 | Limited to 16 passenger seats | The minibus ceiling. Easy to breach by swapping to a bigger vehicle for one job |
| 108 | Subject to minimum age requirements | The category is printed but not yet usable. A shown category is not always a held one |
| 114 | With any special controls required for safe driving | The vehicle must carry the adaptation the driver needs — the code does not say which |
| 121 | Restricted to conditions specified in the Secretary of State's notice | The conditions are in a separate DVLA letter and appear on no licence and no online check. Ask the driver for it |
| 122 | Valid on completion of the Basic Moped Training Course | The moped entitlement only takes effect once CBT is done |
Codes 10 to 46 are a different animal: vehicle adaptations for a disabled driver — modified transmission, clutch, braking, steering, mirrors, seat, and two long motorcycle series under 44 and 55. Each is absolute, but each is a question about the vehicle you allocate rather than about the licence you are reading.
Not every code is a restriction
| Code | What it is |
|---|---|
| 70 | The licence was exchanged from another country. Administrative — and not an immigration or right-to-work signal |
| 71 | A duplicate, replacing a lost or damaged licence |
| 115 | Organ donor. Nothing to do with driving at all |
| 118 | The "valid from" date shown is the earliest on the record across the categories quoted — so it may not be the date that category was gained |
| 119 | A weight limit that would otherwise apply has been lifted — a relaxation, not a restriction |
A count of "4 restrictions found" that includes an organ-donor marker teaches people to ignore the counter. Read the codes, not the number of them.
The same restriction, written more than one way
DVLA's public list, its licence booklet and its data feed do not carry identical sets, and several restrictions have two codes. Automatics-only is 78 and 106. Not-for-hire-or-reward is 101 and 79(NFHR). The 8,250kg limit is 107 and 79(<8250KG). Tricycles-only has four spellings. Any rule keyed on one member of a pair silently misses the other driver.
Two wordings are genuinely unsettled, and we would rather say so than invent a reading: DVLA words 110 as "limited to transporting persons with restricted mobility" in one place and "limited to invalid carriages" in two others; and 113, 123 and 124 all end "except for automatics" without any source saying which way that clause runs. Where a code's meaning matters to a decision, the driver's own DVLA record is the thing to act on.
Why this is a legal matter, not an admin one
Driving outside a licence code is driving "otherwise than in accordance with a licence" under section 87(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It carries endorsement code LC20 and 3 to 6 penalty points, which then sit on the record for four years and count towards a totting-up ban.
Section 87(2) is the part fleets miss. It is a separate offence to cause or permit someone to drive outside their licence — so rostering a code-78 driver onto a manual van is the company's offence as well as the driver's. That is the whole case for checking codes rather than category letters, and it sits squarely inside the employer's duty of care.
Insurance follows the same shape. An injured third party is still paid — the law protects them regardless of the driver's licence — but the insurer can then recover what it paid from the person who caused or permitted the use.
Two things that are commonly out of date
- Code 96 is not how you check towing any more. Since 16 December 2021 every category B holder in Great Britain may tow a trailer up to 3,500kg, and DVLA adds category BE to the photocard at the next renewal. Read the BE entitlement, or the pre-1997 grandfather rights — a missing code 96 stops nobody.
- Northern Ireland runs a different list. An NI licence can carry conditions with no Great Britain equivalent, including being tied to one named vehicle, or barred from motorways. No GB code table decodes them.
Codes also expire. Each one sits beside its own valid-from and valid-to dates, and a short expiry on a single category — where the rest of the licence runs for years — is usually a medical review rather than an error.