The ability to read the letters from licence plate casing on vehicle going around yard (8)
I believe the answer is:
literacy
'the ability to read' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'casing on vehicle going around yard' is the wordplay.
'casing on' becomes 'lite' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'vehicle' becomes 'car' (car is a kind of vehicle).
'going around' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'yard' becomes 'y' (abbreviation).
'car' back-to-front is 'rac'.
'lite'+'rac'+'y'='LITERACY'
'the letters from licence plate' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for literacy that I've seen before include "The 3 Rs" , "I lay cert (anag.)" , "education?" , "Writer's skill" , "Ability to use language proficiently" .)