Introduction
Are you planning to visit the United Kingdom? Well aside from the flight and hotel bookings, you should also make sure to have your UK hire car bookings unless you want to get lost in commuting around UK. Hiring cars would be convenient for travellers since they get to go anywhere on their own without spending too much time walking around and commuting. Aside from that, having a car to go around would make you feel comfortable and safe. There are also chauffer services offered by most UK hire car services. However, chauffer services would be much more expensive rather than just hiring a car. There are a lot of hire car services available in UK and you can have your bookings online.
As a driver, you would also need to know certain details about driving around UK. These are some of the details about UK Hire car drivers that you wouldn’t want to miss.
Age limit
Generally, the required minimum age for driving in UK is 17 years of age provided that they only drive small cars and motorcycles. For medium sized vehicles, an age requirement of 18 years is required and for large Lorries and buses, an age of 21 years is required. However, some UK hire car services have requirements for the age limit of the drivers. Some of them may charge additional cost for drivers below 21 years of age and some also charge additional cost for drivers below 25 years of age. It would depend on the UK hire car service and the reason for such restrictions is for safety purposes or some may be due to the type of insurance that they have.
Type of License
UK’s driving policy for people in foreign countries requires both international and national driver’s license. In all car hire services in UK, foreigners visiting UK and wanting to drive and rent a UK hire car must both have their international and national driver’s license. Failing to provide both would disable them from renting a car. This requirement is mandatory because it is in line with UK’s driving policy. The UK car hire company would be liable for violation of this policy. In additional, some UK hire car services require drivers to have held their license for a minimum of one year.
UK traffic rules and regulations
UK car hire drivers should be aware of the traffic rules and regulations in UK. Some drivers especially those that are used to left hand driving might get confused with the traffic in UK because all cars in UK have a right hand drive. The drivers are required to follow street signs and warnings for them to understand which way to go. Speed limits in UK also vary. For driving within the city, a speed of 30mph or 48kph is required. For driving on open roads, a requirement of 60mph or 96kph is required. UK hire car drivers should also be aware that red lines or double yellow lines painted on the road means that parking is prohibited.
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