Should You Go Through A Red Light To Get Out Of The Way Of An Emergency Vehicle?

"Should you go through a red light to get out of the way of a police car, ambulance or fire engine with blues and twos (siren/blue flashing lights) on?

The simple answer is "No".

The Highway Code isn't a lot of help as it's advice is somewhat generalised on this point and it doesn't spell out what drivers should and shouldn't do in simple terms.

The Met Police on the other hand are rather more specific. Here's their advice;

We do NOT expect you to risk damage to your tyres, wheels or steering by bumping up kerbs to make way for us.

We do NOT expect you to put yourself in danger by crossing red traffic lights to make way for us.

We do NOT expect you to risk road camera fines by, for example, moving in to bus lanes during hours of operation to make way for us.

We would however, appreciate your co-operation by looking well ahead and choosing sensible places to pull over. If possible avoid stopping before bends, brows of hills or narrow sections of roads where we may have difficulty passing.

Source: Metropolitan Police Service

Get out of the way if you can, but be sensible - don't put anyone in danger (including yourself) and don't break the law.

Lost Or Stolen Provisional Driving Licence

We received a panic ridden text message from one of our students on Sunday afternoon. She'd been out to a club with her mates the night before and had only just realised that her purse containing her photocard driving licence was missing. She had her driving test booked in for Tuesday morning and wanted to know whether she'd still be able to take her test without the photocard part of her licence. The simple answer to her question was unfortunately "No"...

If you aren't able to show BOTH parts of your provisional driving licence (the photocard AND the paper counterpart) at either your Theory or Practical Test appointment, you won't be allowed to take the test - and you won't be able to claim a refund of your test fee either.

Lots of photocard licences "go missing" while people are in pubs or clubs. Thieves know that young people use their driving licence photocards as I.D and target such places for easy pickings while people are distracted or drunk. Not only is this annoying, but can lead to even bigger problems in terms of "identity theft", so if you think your licence has been stolen rather than simply lost, you MUST report it to the police.

It's not just the photocards that get mislaid. Many people seem to ignore the paper bit of the provisional driving licence and think it's not important. WRONG...it's VERY important.

Lots of people may ask to see the paper bit - your driving instructor needs to see both parts, the police may need to see both parts and if you ever commit a motoring offence, a court will want sight of it too.

The paper part of the driving licence is where any endorsements are shown and that's why "official people" will want to see it.

So PLEASE don't fall into the trap of keeping your photocard safe to use as I.D, but losing track of the paper bit.

If you do lose either part of your licence, not only is it inconvenient if someone needs to see it and you can't produce it, but it WILL COST YOU MONEY and time to get a replacement licence. The fee for a replacement driving licence is £20.00 and it takes up to 15 days to arrive.

...and if can't find your licence and it's too late to cancel or move your test booking or if you turn up for a Theory or Practical test without both parts of your licence, on top of the cost of a replacement licence it'll be £31 (for a Theory Test) or at least £62 (for a Practical Test) gone in lost test fees, plus the same amount again to book another test...plus having to wait for another test appointment.

LOOK AFTER YOUR LICENCE

For more info about how to replace a lost or stolen driving licence, please see DirectGov - Replacing your driving licence