Driving and your eyesight
The number plate test, the 6/12 standard, which eye problems you must tell DVLA about, and what happens if you report one.
The legal standard
You must be able to read a number plate from 20 metres, about the length of 5 parked cars, with your glasses or contact lenses if you need them. You must also have visual acuity of at least 6/12 (decimal 0.5) on the Snellen scale using both eyes together, or your one seeing eye, and an adequate field of vision. Your optician can test your field. You could be prosecuted if you drive without meeting the standard.
Glasses and lenses
If you need glasses or contact lenses to meet the standard, you must wear them every time you drive. Being short-sighted, long-sighted or colour blind does not have to be reported. Laser surgery for short sight does not either, as long as you meet the standard afterwards.
What you must tell DVLA
You must tell DVLA about any eyesight problem which affects both eyes, or the one eye you can see with. That covers conditions such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, a field loss after a stroke, and double vision. Search the GOV.UK A to Z of medical conditions to check your diagnosis. Lorry and bus drivers must report a problem in either eye.
What happens next
If you report a condition, DVLA may send you for an eyesight test with their contracted optician. You do not pay for it. You can send results from your own optician instead if the test includes an Esterman visual field test, though DVLA does not promise to accept it and you pay for that one. DVLA then decides on your licence using all the medical evidence.
Lorry and bus licences
The standard is higher: at least 6/7.5 (0.8) in your better eye and at least 6/60 (0.1) in the other, glasses no stronger than +8 dioptres, and an uninterrupted horizontal field of at least 160 degrees with no defects in the central 30 degrees. Drivers who held a lorry or bus licence before 1 January 1997 may still renew if they cannot meet it.
The driving test
Every practical test starts with reading a number plate on a parked car. If you cannot, the test stops, you fail, and DVLA revokes your licence until you pass an eyesight test with DVSA.
If you are told to stop driving
Hearing this from an optician or ophthalmologist is hard. The rule exists because a field loss or a sudden change can be invisible to you and dangerous to others. Ask about a Blue Badge, a disabled person's bus pass, the Disabled Persons Railcard and local community transport. Your eye clinic's ECLO can help with the practical side.
Glaucoma guide Living with sight lossCommon questions
Do I have to tell DVLA I wear glasses?
No. Being short-sighted, long-sighted or colour blind does not have to be reported, but you must wear your glasses or lenses every time you drive if you need them to meet the standard.
What is the number plate test?
Reading a number plate from 20 metres, about 5 car lengths, with your glasses or lenses if you use them. It is also the first part of every practical driving test.
I have glaucoma. Can I keep driving?
Many people do. You must tell DVLA if it affects both eyes, and DVLA may send you for a free field test with their optician. Driving while not meeting the standard can lead to prosecution.
Sources
Checked 4 October 2026. Official pages change, so follow the NHS page for the current position.
- Written by
- The Omnirx.io team, from the NHS pages above
- Sources checked
- Page updated
- Next review due
- Clinical review
- Not yet
Was this page useful?
Cite this page
Glanced (2026) Driving and your eyesight. Omnirx.io team for Medstack Ltd. Available at: https://www.glanced.co.uk/nhs/driving/ (Accessed: ).
Educational information, not medical advice. Your own eye-care team's advice comes first.