At the moment, there is no legal age for you to stop driving. It is a personal decision you need to make about when you feel should or want to stop, unless you find yourself suffering from certain medical conditions that can affect your ability to drive safely and comfortably.
If you find yourself suffering from a medical condition that impact on your driving, you may have to give up your driving licence until you are able to meet the medical standards of fitness that are required for you to safely drive confidently again.
Should you make the decision to give up driving or are advised by your doctor to stop, you will need to inform the DVLA about the development or your choice. After informing them, you will need to send them your licence along with the appropriate form.
If you are giving up a car or motorcycle licence, you can download the declaration of voluntary surrender form from gov.uk/giving-up-your-driving-licence. You will then need to send it to the DVLA address that is stated on the bottom of the form.
Should you find yourself needing to give up a bus, coach or lorry licence, you will need to download the VOC99/CERT form and send this with your driving licence to the address on the form.
After surrendering your licence, you will need to reapply for a new driving licence if you make the decision to start driving again. If this occurs after your licence being revoked for medical reasons, you will need to complete a D1 application form and the appropriate medical condition form and send this information to the DVLA.
If You Want To Check Your Driving Abilities
It is possible for you to speak to your GP if you find that you want to keep drive but are worried about if you are capable or able to do so safely. They will be able to advise you of the best course of action of how to deal with any conditions you may have and give you their professional opinion regarding your situation.
If you feel like you could benefit from having your driving ability monitored in a confidential and objective manner, you can undertake an assessment from the RoSPA (also known as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents).
The RoSPA
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents can offer you an objective and honest assessment of your driving. You can take an experienced driver assessment that has been developed with the idea of being able to identify areas that you are particularly strong at, as well as those you aren’t when placed behind the wheel. This also works to help increase your confidence in your ability to drive on the busy roads of today.
It is important to emphasize that it is not a test, so hopefully you will not feel as though you are under pressure. The examiners are there to help you and improve your driving capabilities.
Driving assessments from the RoSPA are aimed at younger drivers, inexperienced drivers, drivers who have found themselves in different circumstances, older drivers, new parents or anyone who is in need of some reassurance about their driving skills.
On the day of your assessment, you will be able to use your own vehicle and it will last for around 1 hour. The assessment is carried out by serving or retired police officers, who will be responsible for contacting you with your preferred location and date and they are available across the country.
The benefits of taking an assessment with the RoSPA is that you should find you have improved confidence in your driving capabilities as well as being given a written report that will review your driving and a certificate of completion. You will also get personalised, practical suggestions that are tailored to your circumstances and location about how you could go about improving your driving skills, should you wish to.