Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

Can you drive with L plates if your not a learner??

29 replies

Nikki037297 · 17/04/2022 16:35

I got a delivery from online (Uber eats) and a woman delivered my food. She had L plates on her car. Called me to say she’s lost and stayed on the phone while driving until she found me, I seen her drive in my street holding her phone to her ear, while she called me at first I thought she was waking as she said the name of the street and it was the one before mine so I assumed she was walking as she was on the phone but anyways she drove into my street on the phone and had L plates on her car and was the only person In the car. I tried to ask what’s going on bur her English was not good and she didn’t understand I told her I was worried if she’s a learner and driving around by her self she will get into trouble!!!

Am I correct?? Or could she be teaching someone else to drive and not removed the L plates and this is ok to do?

OP posts:
Ohyesiam · 17/04/2022 16:37

All the driving instructors who drive between appointments L plates on .

Isgooglebroken · 17/04/2022 16:38

L plates should be removed when the car is not in use by a learner driver (unless it's a driving school vehicle). This also applies to when you pass your driving test. it is not illegal to keep them on, but you could get pulled over by the police who may ask you to remove them

Aimee1987 · 17/04/2022 16:39

My mum had l plates on her car for a year while I learnt. She regularly went out without me.
It's illegal to drive while on the phone though

Topseyt · 17/04/2022 16:52

If you are supervising a learner driver you must have L plates on the car. If you are not supervising the learner but are out on your own then strictly speaking you should remove them. I think it is a legal requirement.

Driving instructors may drive to pick up their clients, and in-between lessons to collect the next client without removing the L plates. Otherwise, when using their vehicles for other purposes then they too are supposed to remove them.

ajandjjmum · 17/04/2022 17:11

DH was stopped by the Police on the motorway after he had dropped DD off at school, when she was learning. He had to remove them. Obviously she hadn't gone to school driving on the motorway! Grin

EdwinaSharma · 17/04/2022 18:21

Yes you can. You are supposed to whip them off but people forget all of the time.

ajandjjmum · 18/04/2022 07:08

@EdwinaSharma

Yes you can. You are supposed to whip them off but people forget all of the time.
You can but it is against the law.
NiceViper · 18/04/2022 07:15

You should, but you won't get in trouble if you don't.

If you get magnetic ones, they're easy to whip off, it's just a case of getting in to thebhabit. Or better still getting your learner in to the habit of checking they're on before heading it, and removing and putting in proper place when they come in.

Driving unsupervised when a learner or failing to display L plates are both more serious, the first in particular.

Stick to reliable delivery companies who make some sort of checks that their delivery staff have the proper licences and own (or have owner's permission to use) a vehicle for which they are insured.

gunnersgold · 18/04/2022 07:17

My dd has just passed her test . We bought her a car and a couple of times I forgot to remove them . No big deal . Why are you so worried about it ?

EdwinaSharma · 18/04/2022 07:35

You can but it is against the law.
No it is isn't.

LittleRedRidingHood187 · 18/04/2022 07:52

It's not illegal to drive with L plates on a car if the driver is not a learner but I wouldn't do it

If the police see somebody driving a car on their own with an L plate on for example they could well think it's an unaccompanied learner which is obviously illegal

QuebecBagnet · 18/04/2022 07:53

When I learnt to drive the L plates stayed on my dad’s car all the time as they were zip tied on. I don’t think magnetic ones had been invented 30 years ago. With the sticky ones people use now they’d have to stay on all the time as they’d not be reusable.

QuillBill · 18/04/2022 08:12

If the police see somebody driving a car on their own with an L plate on for example they could well think it's an unaccompanied learner which is obviously illegal
GrinCome on! That's a stretch.

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 18/04/2022 08:20

@QuillBill

If the police see somebody driving a car on their own with an L plate on for example they could well think it's an unaccompanied learner which is obviously illegal GrinCome on! That's a stretch.
How's that a stretch? It's exactly what the OP thought and perfectly natural if you see one person in a car with L plates to wonder if they are a learner by themselves

A PP has even said her dh was stopped for it

TrippinEdBalls · 18/04/2022 08:23

I'm going to venture a guess that if someone was going to ignore the requirement that learners should have a supervising driver they'd also go the whole hog and not bother with L plates...

cabansunset · 18/04/2022 08:25

It's not against the law. Parents and driving instructors do it all the time in between teaching.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 18/04/2022 08:26

i thought it was against the law

QuillBill · 18/04/2022 08:44

*How's that a stretch? It's exactly what the OP thought and perfectly natural if you see one person in a car with L plates to wonder if they are a learner by themselves

A PP has even said her dh was stopped for it*

Because you can't live your life worrying that the police might think that you are breaking the law when you aren't breaking the law.

We took the L plates off because we didn't want people to treat is like learners when we weren't but certainly not because the police might stop the car.

burnoutbabe · 18/04/2022 08:52

Aren't there P plates to indicate to others -I am newly qualified?

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 18/04/2022 09:44

@QuillBill

*How's that a stretch? It's exactly what the OP thought and perfectly natural if you see one person in a car with L plates to wonder if they are a learner by themselves

A PP has even said her dh was stopped for it*

Because you can't live your life worrying that the police might think that you are breaking the law when you aren't breaking the law.

We took the L plates off because we didn't want people to treat is like learners when we weren't but certainly not because the police might stop the car.

No one has suggested anyone spends their life worrying about being stopped. They are quite rightly saying that is a possibility. Your different reason for not keeping the L plates on is perfectly sensible but doesn't mean that other reasons aren't.
QuillBill · 18/04/2022 11:29

Confused She literally said that was the reason.

'If the police see somebody driving a car on their own with an L plate on for example they could well think it's an unaccompanied learner which is obviously illegal'

Dinoboymama · 18/04/2022 11:41

There is no law that states you must remove them but as others have said if the police were to pass you alone in a car with them they might stop and check your licenced to drive with insurance etc

Belkell · 18/04/2022 11:53

I absolutely love the way that the first answer was the actual paragraph from the Highway Code (that as a driver, you sign to say you have read and understand)

And yet there’s still a discussion 🤣

You should remove L plates, when the learner is not driving. Unless it is part of driving school livery on the vehicle. If you can’t remove the plate, (ie zip tied on like mine were, back in the day) then it is acceptable to cover them. We used to use a couple of pieces of black insulating tape to make an X over the L.

ajandjjmum · 18/04/2022 14:05

@EdwinaSharma

You can but it is against the law. No it is isn't.
The Police who stopped DH on the motorway told him that it was.
EdwinaSharma · 18/04/2022 14:51

Wow, you would think they would know.