Licencing Types and Classes

Licence Classes on your Licence

Do you know what Licence classes you have? Is it the correct class for the Bike you are riding? Do you check that your details are correct when renewing your licence?
Something we constantly find when people call us to book courses is that they don’t have the licence class they think they do. They either thought they did, used to have one or just misunderstood what their licence says.
So pull out your licence and we will give you a rundown on how to read classes on your licence and some other advice.

Class refers to the Vehicle you are Licenced to drive or ride.
Type tells you if you have a Learners, Provisional, Probationary or an Open Licence.
Effective is the date your current licence is effective from.
Expiry is the date you need to renew your current licence.
Conditions refer to a variety of situations that apply to you only, as a driver.

The Class of Licence you have could be for a Car, Bike and a variety of Truck Sizes.
C stands for Manual Car
CA stands for Automatic Car
LR is a Light Rigid Truck – GVM of 4.5 to 8 tonne.
MR is a Medium Truck – GVM over 8 tonne with a maximum of 2 axles.
HR is a Heavy Rigid Truck – GVM over 8 tonne with more than 2 axles.
R is a Unrestricted Motorcycle – eligible to ride any motorcycle.
RE is a Restricted Motorcycle Licence – eligible to ride only LAMS motorcycles.

Learner licence for your Motorbike means; in Qld, you must be supervised by another rider, in a car or on a bike, who has held a licence for the class of bike you are riding for at least 12 months and you must display an L plate when riding.
The Supervising rider must have R – O for non LAMS bikes or RE – O for LAMS bikes. The Learner rider must also hold that licence for a minimum of 3 months, there is no maximum time limit.

Provisional Licence is for a new driver, someone who is either a young driver or someone who has never had a licence before and is new to driving. A common question we get is; will I have to display a P plate when I get my Motorbike licence? The answer is, if you don’t have a P for your car licence you will not need one for your bike licence, you will go straight to an Open licence. There will be conditions regarding having a Pillion and also a Zero alcohol tolerance for the first 12 months, but nothing else.

Probationary Licence usually means you are coming back from a Suspension and have certain restrictions on your licence.

Open Licence means you don’t have any restrictions for the class you are riding once you have held it for 12 months.

The Effective date can be deceptive when you are waiting to Upgrade to a Higher class of Motorbike as it refers to the date you renewed your Licence not the date you got your bike licence. You will notice that your car and bike licence will have the same effective and expiry date. My advice if you are wanting to upgrade to a higher class of bike is to make a note of when you did your RE licence course or contact TMR and they will tell you when you are eligible.

Conditions that might affect a driver could be – S, M, A, B, RD just to name a few.
S for spectacles or glasses
M for medical certificate required
A for auto truck only
B for Synchromesh truck only
RD for a returning driver (many reasons for this to apply).

We always encourage drivers and riders to check their licences when updating details, renewing licences or changing from different states. We have many people who have had other classes on their licence but for some reason don’t have anymore. Remember to check your details to make sure they are correct before you sign to say they are. If you sign to say they are and you havent noticed they are wrong then it can be quite difficult to get them changed again. You will need to provide documentation to prove the correct details.

If you don’t realise that you have lost a class on your licence for more than a 5 year period then you have lost that class and will have to redo that Class.

We would also advise to list an email address with TMR so that you can log into your Licence account online. You can change your address, receive reminders about registration and licence renewals, change contact details, find out about your points on your licence and many other things. Go to the TMR website and login and it will walk you through the process.

https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/licensing/driver-licensing/types

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