
Front of the driving licence explained
The front of the driving licence displays a photograph of the licence holder with the licence expiry date printed on top, as well key information about them, and the types of vehicle their licence permits them to drive.
Each section on the front of a driving licence is numbered, with each number showing the following information:
1. Your surname
2. Your first name(s)
3. Your date and country of birth
4a. The date your licence was issued
4b. The date your licence expires
4c. What agency issued your licence (usually DVLA)
5. Your driving licence number*
6. Although not numbered on the licence, your photograph is 6
7. Your signature
8. Your address
9. The categories of vehicle you’re permitted to drive – see next section.
*This is made up of the first five letters of your surname, your birth year, month and day, plus the letters two of your middle names begin with, with the number ‘9’ standing in if you only have one middle name. Note the two numbers that make up your birth year are split in two and bookend the long number, rather than being displayed sequentially. There are also three computer-assigned digits at the end, plus a separate pair of numbers on the same line that represent your licence issue number.
Back of the driving licence explained
A number of categories are displayed on the back of your driving licence, displayed in a table with four columns, labelled 9-12.
Column 9 shows the code and an image representing classes of vehicle
Column 10 is date from which your licence for that class of vehicle is valid
Column 11 is date from which your licence for that class of vehicle expires
Column 12 shows driving licence codes – EG ‘115’ means organ donor (see section after next).
What are driving licence categories?
While the icons help you work out what vehicles you’re allowed to drive, they might not all be intuitively understandable.
The easiest way to see which categories your licence covers is to look at section nine of your photocard. Found on the front of the card, this section shows driving licence categories represented by letters separated by commas or slashes. Capital letters refer to categories recognised across Europe, while lower case letters refer to national categories. On the back of your driving licence, you’ll notice a table with three columns:
- Column 9 shows types of vehicles you can drive
- Column 10 shows the licence start date
- Column 11 shows the licence end date
- Column 12 shows driving licence codes
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