PassWhat these signs are
Where: Combined with other regulatory signs — on reservation signs, restriction signs and supplementary plates — to say which class of vehicle the instruction applies to.
Purpose: To identify a class of vehicle by a single small picture. The October 2026 edition of the official manual sets out twenty-two of them, numbered R560 to R582. They are not instructions in themselves; they qualify the sign they appear on.
Action Required by Driver: Work out which class your own vehicle falls into, then read the sign carrying the symbol. If the symbol is not your class, the instruction is not aimed at you — but check carefully, because several classes look alike at a glance.
Telling Them Apart
The whole skill is relative size and body shape
These symbols share one design language, so the differences are small and deliberate. Three rules carry most of it:
- Passenger vehicles differ by length. A bus is the longest. A midibus is noticeably shorter. A minibus is shorter again — the familiar taxi-sized vehicle. If two of them appear side by side on one sign, you are being asked to compare lengths.
- Goods vehicles differ by body. A goods vehicle is a cab with a long box body. A delivery vehicle is a single smaller van shape. A construction vehicle carries plant — a tipping body, a mixer or a similar load.
- A taxi is a motor car with a roof sign. That roof sign is the only difference, and it is easy to miss.
The Twenty-Two Classes
| Code | Vehicle class | Code | Vehicle class |
|---|---|---|---|
| R560 | Bus | R572 | Abnormal vehicle |
| R561 | Pedal cycle | R573 | Rickshaw |
| R562 | Motor cycle | R574 | Tour bus |
| R563 | Motor car | R575 | High-occupancy vehicle |
| R564 | Taxi | R576 | Emergency vehicle |
| R565 | Minibus | R577 | Police vehicle |
| R566 | Midibus | R578 | Disabled persons vehicle |
| R567 | Delivery vehicle | R579 | Authorised vehicle |
| R568 | Goods vehicle | R580 | Agricultural vehicle |
| R569 | Goods vehicle over indicated GVM | R582 | Towed vehicle |
| R570 | Construction vehicle | ||
| R571 | Vehicle conveying dangerous goods |
Where you will meet them
A vehicle class symbol rarely appears on its own. It sits inside or beneath another sign:
- On a reservation sign, to say who the lane, bay or area belongs to.
- On a command sign, to say which class may proceed.
- On a prohibition sign, to say which class may not.
- On a supplementary plate, to narrow the sign above it to one class.
So the question to ask is never only “what vehicle is that?” but “what is the sign around it telling that vehicle to do?”
A note on the pictures on this page
The chart above is a guide to the vehicle classes, drawn to show the size and shape differences that the test relies on. It is not a reproduction of each individual sign. The symbols on the real R560–R582 signs follow the official manual, and we are adding the official artwork for each one as it becomes available.
The classes themselves, and the differences between them, are exactly as the manual sets them out — which is the part you are examined on.