Problems at the Dutch driving licence authority CBR have left some 85,000 Dutch pensioners unable to drive abroad, and those living in the border areas in particular are complaining.

The over-75s in the Netherlands have to undergo medical checks before their driving licences are renewed but the waiting lists are so long that the CBR is automatically extending their licences by one year.

But the pensioners are unable to drive outside the Netherlands on their old licences, leaving thousands who live close to Germany and Belgium unable to shop or visit friends over the border. Others have been forced to cancel holidays.

‘This is absolutely age discrimination,’ Tonnie van Keesteren, 75, told the AD. ‘The CBR can’t get its act together and we are the ones who are hit.’

‘I’ve cancelled my trips,’ Barend Vellinga told the Telegraaf. ‘We should have been going to France, but we can’t. The chaos at the CBR means we can’t go on holiday. What kind of a banana republic do we live in?’

The CBR says it is doing its best to solve the problems and can issue a temporary driving licence in an emergency.