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Whether you’re moving house, helping with drive the local football team’s minibus or thinking of a job as a home delivery courier it helps to know what steps you need to take to drive a van. Vans might seem big and intimidating which is why so many people often ask ‘Can you drive a van with normal car licence?” when actually many of them are no harder or complicated to drive than a large car.
If you’ve ever wondered ‘can I drive a van?’ then this is the guide for you. We’ll answer questions like “do you need a special van driving licence?” or “what licence do you need to drive a van?”.
We’ll explain everything there is to know about van driving licences, driving a van and any restrictions for driving a van.
The simple answer is yes, but that will depend on what van you are looking to drive.
Most vans are 3.5 tonnes or under, which puts them in the same class as a car. All you’ll need to drive a van under 3.5 tonnes (or 3,500kg) is a full car driving licence – also known as Category B.
Fortunately that’s pretty much every van out there except some of the very biggest. So if you’re worried about driving a Ford Transit Connect or a Citroen Berlingo then don’t. Same goes for medium-size vans like the UK’s best selling van, the Ford Transit Custom or everyone’s favourite van the Volkgwagen Transporter and it’s camper sibling the Volkswagen California.
So, that’s the simple rules for anyone with a full driving licence.
But, as always things can get a little more complex, and not necessarily in a bad way.
For anyone who passed their driving test before January 1997 they have something called “Grandfather Rights” which should mean that you have an additional category on your licence in addition to your B Category.
Grandfather Rights will give you a C1 category on your licence. This enables you to drive vans up to 7.5 tonnes (7,500kg) – which also includes the really small kind of trucks.
It's possible to check your licence details on the gov.uk website. You’ll need your licence number, National Insurance number and the postcode where your licence is registered to. Of course if you have all that, you're probably looking at your driving licence in which case... turn it over.
On the back of your driving licence you will see wide range of categories.
We've listed them below:
| Licence Type | Meaning |
|---|---|
| AM | Moped |
| A1 | Low power motorbike |
| A2 | Medium powered motorbike |
| A | Full motorbike |
| B1 | Quadricycle (under 400kg, 550kg if an LCV) |
| B | Full Car and Van |
| C1 | Vans and Trucks up to 7500kg |
| C | Rigid Trucks (3 axles) |
| D1 | Passenger vehicles up to 7500kg |
| D | Full Coach and Bus |
| BE | Car with trailer over 750kg |
| C1E | C1 category with trailer 750kg |
| CE | C category with trailer (ie. articulated truck) |
| D1E | D1 category with trailer |
| DE | D category passenger vehicle with trailer |
As you can see there are plenty of different licence types to get qualified for but to simply drive a van all you need is a full B Category licence.
If you want to tow with a van you are allowed to tow a trailer up to 750kg, but anything over that will require a BE Category licence.
For more information on towing visiting the towing capacity pages for individual model information on vans that can tow.
As previously mentioned, you can drive any van, of any size, on a normal car licence, but there is a restriction on the weight.
A few of the larger vans have a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of more than 3,500kg. These are generally vans with twin rear wheels and they will usually have a tachograph in there as well.
It’s likely that even the largest vans you can hire will all be under 3.5-tonnes and any decent van rental company will tell you that you’re hiring a van that’s over 3500kg as they’ll want to check you have the relevant licence.
Specifying a Luton van might be the right van to help you move house, but these in particular should be built on a higher GVW chassis. So be careful when hiring any large van if you don’t have a C1 category licence.
Every single make of large van has a version that is 3.5-tonnes. These are the ones that can all be driven on a car licence.
Of course they then make even larger vans that are usually used as chassis for larger bodybuilder projects like very big motorhomes, hospitality vans, welfare vans and tippers. They are nearly always extra-long wheelbase and if they are a panel van, extra high roof models.
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is one of the largest vans on the market and if you look at the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter dimensions guide you’ll see there is a dizzying array of options which include vans of 5, 6 or 7-tonne vans. The same is true of the Ford Transit, Volkswagen Crafter, MAN TGE, and the Iveco Daily.
The Iveco Daily is actually the largest GVW van on sale at the moment with the biggest vans going up to 7.2-tonnes as a chassis.
Our advice is to check the vehicle plate – which is either a metal plate or sticker located inside the passenger door frame or under the bonnet.
It wouldn’t be government legislation without a few exceptions. These of course have come about over time and are now focused on electric vans.
Yes. Because the batteries in an electric van are heavy, an additional allowance has been added to let you drive them.
For B Category licence holders they are allowed to drive a 4.25-tonne van if it is electric. This is to make the payload comparable between electric and diesel.
Great, I hear you shout. But… at the time of writing there’s a catch. The driving licence rules might say you can drive the van, but you will fall into all the requirements for larger vehicles (like trucks) over 3.5 tonnes. That could mean tachographs, o-licences, six-weekly inspection schedules and drivers hours/working time directive. If you’re doing all of this driving for personal usage then there’s an argument that you fall between the crack.
But, if you are driving a van over 3.5-tonnes either diesel or electric for hire or reward then you’ll need to think about treating it as a truck rather than a van. It’s a total minefield at the moment.
For any electric van over 4.25 tonnes you’ll still need a category C1 on your licence and all of the above headaches definitely apply.
Yes, all you need is a regular B Category licence which will allow you to drive a passenger van or minibus with up to 16 passengers. As with the above electric van, if you are doing it for hire or reward that’s a different matter.
