Optical Test For Tfl / Pco / London Taxi Drivers / Uber Drivers

Medical requirements for applicants aged 45 and aged 65 and over.

If you are aged 45 or over and you are completing a new application for a PCO-Licence (or even in the case of a PCO-Licence renewal), you must undergo a medical examination (Form TPH/204 must be completed). A medical examination will need to be undertaken at each subsequent renewal of your licence between the ages of 45 up to the age of 65.

If you are age 65 or over you will also (as a condition of licence issue) be required to undergo annual medical examinations, during the currency of your licence.

​​DVLA Group 2 Medical Standards Changes in Standard of Visual Acuity.

​Earlier this year (2 April 2013) the DVLA revised the visual acuity standard for holders of Group 2 licences.

The new standard is as follows:

• A visual acuity, using corrective lenses if necessary, of at least 6/7.5 in the better eye and at least 6/60 in the other eye. Where glasses are worn to meet the minimum standards, they should have a corrective power of less than or equal to +8 dioptres. There is no uncorrected requirement.
• It is also necessary for all drivers of Group 2 vehicles to be able to meet the prescribed and relevant Group 1 visual acuity requirements.

In assessing whether an applicant for a PHV driver’s licence is medically fit, TfL has regard to the medical standard that would apply in relation to a DVLA Group 2 licence. Therefore any applicant applying for a taxi or PHV driver’s licence after 31 October 2012 will be required to meet the new Group 2 standard.

Drivers who were originally licensed under lower standards are allowed to retain these entitlements under ‘grandfather rights’. The standard applied is determined by the date a PHV driver was first licensed.

Retaining this entitlement is dependent on:

• The driver remaining continuously licensed since he or she was first licensed;
• There being no significant deterioration in any other aspects of the driver’s vision;
• The driver not having been involved in an accident in the preceding 10 years, in which their eyesight might have been a factor; and
• The driver meeting all of the current Group 1 acuity standards.

The Group 2 standards are set out in full in the DVLA publication ‘At a Glance Guide to the Current Medical Standards of Fitness to Drive’ that can be found at www.dft.gov.uk/dvla