Is there a minimum age to drive a forklift?

Yes. According to HSE you will not be able to be trained as a forklift driver unless you are over the minimum school leaving age. It does say though you can be 18 years old and operate if working in ports.

Medical standards to operate a forklift truck

Because of the fact that you can be moving heavy materials around when you are operating a forklift and it can be dangerous if you are not able to get in and out of a forklift easily, it is recommended that all forklift truck operators have an appropriate level of medical fitness.

I have a forklift licence from another country

Some countries do have forklift licences. If this is the case for you, it is still recommended that you do your training as some employers will not accept your licence. Also because some countries have different forklift working environments, you need to be confident when behind the wheel.

Is there a legal requirement to do forklift refresher courses?

There is nothing laid down in law about this but the Approved Code of Practice states that “refresher training should be given”. This is further reinforced in the Workplace Transport Regulations (2005). For this reason, many employers arrange for refresher training and re-testing at somewhere between 3 and 5 year intervals. In the event of an accident the authorities would want to know when the operators involved were last trained and if that was a very long time ago, a court may deem that it has been too long and that refresher training should have been given.

Note that if you are on the NORS register you will be expected to attend a refresher course every three years.