Before your first driving lesson...
...The legal requirements when learning to drive.

You must obey certain rules before you can drive on UK roads. These are:

You must hold a current UK driving licence, which consists of two parts, a Photo card and a paper documents, that lists any driving convictions you have.

You must be at least 17 years of age (16 years old for disabilities).

Display an 'L' Plate on the front and rear of the vehicle.

You must have a qualified supervising driver who is at least aged 21, with at least 3 years experience, or more.

The car you drive, must be roadworthy, have a valid road fund licence (Tax disc), MOT (if more than three years old) and be insured for you to drive it.

If you are a foreign national that has come from outside the EC, you must apply for a UK provisional licence after 12 months from when you arrived in this country.

Applying for your first driving licence

Before you can start driving lessons, you must apply for a provisional licence for the licence group you intend to drive; Group A is for a manual car; Group A1 is for an automatic car; Group B is for motorcycles. Provisional driving licences are available from the DVLA, and may not be applied for online, as you are required to physically confirm your identity. If you already hold a valid full driving licence and want to learn to drive larger vehicles, minibuses or buses you will need to apply for provisional entitlement for these vehicles.

In order to apply for a licence, you will need DVLA form "D1", which is available form your local post office. With this form, you will need to enclose original documentation confirming your identity, a passport style colour photograph and the fee of £38.00. The form has the address of the DVLA to post to.

Confirmation of your identity should usually be your passport; however, the DVLA also accepts the following items as proof of identity.

• UK birth certificate
• certificate of registry of birth (provided your name is present on the certificate)
• adoption certificate
• identity card issued by a member state of the European Community / European Economic Area (EC/EEC)
• travel documents issued by the Home Office
• certificate off naturalisation

click here for more info on driving licence rules.