Check your eligibility for a bus pass Opens in a new window

Acceptable proof of age would be any one of the following documents:

• Valid Passport
• Birth certificate
• Valid driving licence
• Department for Work and Pensions letter confirming state retirement pension
• Pension credit letter
• Valid NHS medical card

You can be registered as partially sighted if you have a full field of vision but can only read the top letter of the eye test chart at a distance of six metres or less (with glasses warn). However if you can read the next three lines down from the same distance but you field of vision is moderately or severely restricted you may still qualify for registration.

Proof of eligibility:

• Disabled Person’s registration card, or Letter from Children’s Services, Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust, or other local authority confirming registration as blind/partially sighted.
• Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI) signed by Consultant Ophthalmologist
• Current disabled person’s Blue Badge, must be valid more than 12 months

Hearing loss is measured in decibels across the normal hearing spectrum as dB HL (Hearing Level). People age generally regarded as having severe hearing loss if it reaches 70-95 dB HL and a profound loss if it reaches 95+ dB HL. NB to qualify for the concession hearing loss must be bilateral

Proof of eligibility:

• Disabled Person’s registration card, or Letter from Children’s Services, Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust, or other local authority confirming registration as severely/profoundly deaf (not hearing impaired).
• An audiological report, or a report from an aural specialist confirming that the applicant has a bilateral severe or profound hearing loss

Persons who are unable to communicate orally in any language. NB this does not include those whose speech is slow or difficult to understand e.g. because of a severe stammer.

Proof of eligibility:

• Disabled Person’s registration card, or Letter from Children’s Services, Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust, or other local authority confirming registration as blind/partially sighted.
• Proof of Personal Independence Payment with a score of eight points or more for the 'communicating verbally' activity.

To qualify under this category a person would have to have a long term and substantial disability or injury that means they cannot walk at all or which makes walking very difficult.

• Disability Living Allowance with Higher Rate Mobility Component
• Personal Independence Payment score of eight points or more for the ‘moving around’ activity
• Current disabled person’s Blue Badge, must be valid more than 12 months
• War Pension with mobility supplement

This category includes people with a limb reduction deficiency of both arms; bilateral upper limb amputation; muscular dystrophy; spinal cord injury; motor neurone disease; or a condition of comparable severity.

Proof of eligibility:

• Visible evidence that the applicant has no arms
• Disability Living Allowance with Higher Rate Mobility component
• Current disabled person’s Blue Badge, must be valid more than 12 months
• Letter on headed paper from a medical professional confirming that the applicant has long-term loss of use of both arms.

A learning disability is a state or arrested or incomplete development of mind which includes a significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning. The disability must have started before adulthood and have a lasting effect upon development. The person should be able to qualify for specialist services. Note: documents containing the term ‘learning difficulty will not be accepted.

Proof of eligibility:

• Disabled Person’s Registration card or letter from Children’s Services, Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust, or other local authority confirming learning disability registration. NB a registration scheme is no longer maintained within Torbay but documents previously issued will be accepted in this disability category.
• Letter on headed paper from a medical professional confirming a diagnosis of learning disability (not learning difficulty) before adulthood.
• Personal Independence Payment with a score of ten points or more for the ‘Planning and following a journey’ activity.

Under Section 92 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 the Secretary of State may refuse to issue a driving licence on grounds of medical fitness. Those who are currently barred from holding a licence for medical reasons (other than the persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol) are people with:

1. Epilepsy (unless it is of a type which does not pose a danger*)
2. Severe mental disorder
3. Liability to sudden attacks of giddiness or fainting
4. Inability to read a registration plate in good light at 20.5 metre (with lenses if worn)
5. Other disabilities which are likely to cause the driving of vehicles by them to be a source of danger to the public.

* For epilepsy the bar is not automatic and depends on the circumstances. See Motor Vehicle Driving Licences Amendment Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/258)

Proof of eligibility:

• Recent letter from DVLA giving notice of refusal or withdrawal of licence on medical grounds (not misuse of drugs/alcohol)
• Letter on headed paper from a medical practitioner or mental health professional confirming that the applicant is suffering from a long term medical condition (excluding drug/alcohol misuse) which renders them unable to meet the minimum standards of medical fitness to drive or obtain a driving licence. If the evidence provided states the applicant has a “permanent” disability, a bus pass may be issued for up to 5 years without the requirement for further evidence to be submitted upon renewal applications. Evidence submitted is required to have more than 6 months validity of the 12 month period and evidence submitted in a previous application will not be accepted

War veterans in receipt of a war pensioner’s mobility supplement or compensation for an injury in tariffs 1-8 of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme are likely to qualify for a bus pass in one of the eligible categories for disability. Documents confirming this should be uploaded with your application.