People aged 70 and over won’t have to retake their driving tests under new government rules, as has been claimed on social media.
Posts on Facebook have been making the assertion that new Prime Minister Andy Burnham is proposing to make over-70s pass another driving test to continue driving on UK roads.
One post, which has been liked over 1,800 times, says: “What have I and my fellow pensioners done to upset our new Prime Minister… Today he is talking of all drivers over 70 taking a new driving test.”
But this is not a genuine policy being brought forward by Mr Burnham.
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Proposed vision checks, not driving tests
The proposed re-testing actually relates to plans for drivers in their seventies to have their vision checked every three years in order to stay on the roads. And this is not a policy newly announced by Mr Burnham, but one which has been discussed since August 2025 as part of a new road safety strategy.
It went out to public consultation between January and May this year—during Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.
Under existing rules, the automatic entitlement to drive expires at the age of 70, and drivers must then renew their licence every three years, with a self-declaration that they can meet eyesight standards required to drive, and confirm whether they have any listed medical conditions.
The new proposals would see the self-declaration process replaced with mandatory eyesight tests for older drivers as part of the licence renewal process.
While we have seen social media posts which have confused the vision testing element for compulsory driving re-tests, media reporting has also set out the potential changes in headlines and articles that don’t clearly spell out that the change relates to eye tests, not driving tests, and calling it a “new Andy Burnham plan” or his “new road test rules”.
Headline-writers should ensure headlines are accurate and support the body of the article.
