Disabled man told he can't use wheelchair with tank tracks unless he gets a special licence

A disabled man is not allowed to use his new track-driven wheelchair – because he hasn’t got the special licence he needs for it. Jim Starr, 36, got the £15,000 chair – which has caterpillar tracks instead of wheels – for Christmas.

He hoped it would be ideal to move around the beach or countryside with his kids. But the DVLA say the Tank Chair cannot be classed as an invalid buggy as it is too wide and too heavy.



They say he must apply for a Category H driving licence which allows people to drive tracked vehicles such as tanks on public land. Jim, a former landscape gardener from Dorchester, Dorset said: “It is a fantastic machine that can take me anywhere I want to go.

“It is ridiculous that I should have found a chair that could help me, only for the authorities to say I’d be doing something illegal.” The DVLA said Jim needed an “appropriate licence”.

You can see the wheelchair in action here.