Expiring Photo Driving Licences - Serious, READ IT...

[Felix79]

I have my old paper licence too and I refusse to have photo one. I like the right to remain annomious.

[town325i]

This is NOT a joke

Hi guys and girls.

Had this information given to me today by a work colleage, who has actually had this very problem...

Photo Driving Licences only last 10 years, then need renewing... and I - like everyone else - thought they just ran till we got old...

Thousands of motorists face £1,000 fines as photocard driving licences expire. They risk being fined up to £1,000 because they are unknowingly driving without a valid licence.

They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photocard licence which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70.

The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, just as the they start to expire.
Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life.



A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photocards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b'

They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed.

To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.

Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.

With another 300,000 photocard licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine.

At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version. Just below the driver name on the front of the photocard licence is a series of dates and details - each one numbered. Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means.

The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'.

Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is until his or her 70th birthday.

A total of 25million new-style licences have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years.

Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving . But the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.

AA president, Edmund King said: 'It is not generally known that photocard licences expire: there appears to be a lack of information that people will have to renew these licences. People think they have already paid them for once over and that is it. It will come as a surprise to motorists and a shock that they have to pay an extra £17.50.'

The AA called on the Government to use the annual £450million from traffic enforcement fines to offset the renewal charge.

Before photocard licences were introduced, old-style paper licences were valid until the age of 70. Many motorists still believe this to be the case with the new ones.

gortour are you a member of the caravan club ive just read this article in the hospital in a caravan club magazine (dont ask what i was doing ready that mag)

[march109]

Did no one wonder what that date was for? They don't print arbitrary dates on legal government documentation for fun.

Does no one have a passport? £17.50 doesn't seem excessive to me considering. For christs sake my solicitor charges more to certify your likeness, not that I pay that mind.

Of course they need to be renewed your appearence would change so much over the years, 10 years was chosen because of the passport system.

Those with paper licences will struggle to hire vehicles abroad, use their licence as ID for domestic flights or contracrural purposes. They will also be required to change it upon change of name, address, entitlements or medical history or face £1000 fine for false details. There was also talk of paper style licences not being valid at all abroad or atleast in the EU since the card style licence is standardised across all EU nations.



At least a change of address is free.

[SUMPCRACKER]

Im a bit confused about one aspect of this...

Do you have to send back your expired licence to get the new one,because if you do im pretty sure you cant drive if unable to provide/display one or somthing?
And its not like it will come next day is it...

[march109]

Im a bit confused about one aspect of this...

Do you have to send back your expired licence to get the new one,because if you do im pretty sure you cant drive if unable to provide/display one or somthing?
And its not like it will come next day is it...

You can still drive, thatsapplicable if you don't actually have a licence, the police would beableto check the driver and vehicle database on the PNC, may need ID to proove you are who you say you are.

[zimmer-320i]

good point but then take copies and send it recorded, if you get stoped show them the copy and then the copy of your renew licence form and the recorded delivery ticket, that way how could they argue the fact you havent got it UNLESS it is out of date BEFORE you sent it, im sure there have no grudge and it takes 2 weeks from experince but my new licence after it being revoked came in 4 days and as i called them on monday i had it with in that week. maybe its just what work load there under etc, but it still dosnt excuse the charge, i rember when you rang up and said ive lost my driving licence, it was free of charge if you lost one part but if coth was lost it was a £19 charge
i did it once he told me then said sorry you have said both parts are lost its £19 so i hung up rang back and said id lost the card ok sir were send you one right away, cray but now i belive its £17.50 also to get a replacement

but now its £30-40 for provisional and then upgrade to full is free instead of £17.50 for provisonal and £19 for full

[SUMPCRACKER]

Oh good.
Wonder what else we are all about to be fined for and dont know about.

[Gortour]

gortour are you a member of the caravan club ive just read this article in the hospital in a caravan club magazine (dont ask what i was doing ready that mag)

No mate, not in the Caravan Club. I got sent it by my manager at work, whos friend is actually going through trying to appeal against his £1000 fine...

[ShepsEvo3]

Well, if I look the same in ten years time as what I look now then I will be pretty happy, so obviously, you need to renew it with new pictures. I am suprised its that long to be honest, but there should be no charge in my opinion.

[Rich_W]

No way in hell is she 33 either. She looks about 45!

[town325i]

Did no one wonder what that date was for? They don't print arbitrary dates on legal government documentation for fun.

Does no one have a passport? £17.50 doesn't seem excessive to me considering. For christs sake my solicitor charges more to certify your likeness, not that I pay that mind.

Of course they need to be renewed your appearence would change so much over the years, 10 years was chosen because of the passport system.

Those with paper licences will struggle to hire vehicles abroad, use their licence as ID for domestic flights or contracrural purposes. They will also be required to change it upon change of name, address, entitlements or medical history or face £1000 fine for false details. There was also talk of paper style licences not being valid at all abroad or atleast in the EU since the card style licence is standardised across all EU nations.



At least a change of address is free.

i have already said this on the first page!

[town325i]

Well, if I look the same in ten years time as what I look now then I will be pretty happy, so obviously, you need to renew it with new pictures. I am suprised its that long to be honest, but there should be no charge in my opinion.

you have to pay to renew your passport and it take man hours to do things you wouldnt work for free would you

[Jesus325iTouring]

I still have the old paper one and cant be arsed to pay for a new picture one, so they can fuk right off

Thats the spirit Rav,same as me

[Jesus325iTouring]

PS is yours in several jigsaw type sections as well?

[Ian_M]

Mine expires 8 years from the start of my licence

[sati]

frist time ive heard of a towing test! , ive tow many cars on normal "pinky" and had no issuse. the cop system is rather pointless , it only reads plates in the normal font and size, if you got a private plate it cant understand it.

when i got my e30 the car was a write off cat c , so had no tax , mot or logbook. so i drove it around localy in my area once the engine was swapped and have been in front of cops and it didnt even pick up the plate up.

many cars dont even have plates on the front or rear as its stuck on the bonnet or on the dash , rear shelf. and they get away with speeding and if cops pull them they get a slap on the hand and just show the plastic plates at cop shop and job done.

[magpie]

just more back door tactics to strangle our wallets and tax us even more.

[gazza]

a new application for a provisional is £50 now but if you hold a uk digital passport you do not need to get the pic signed ...my son just got his back within a week ...it is set to start the day before his 17th birthday so we are getting him his first lesson ...according to his licence he can drive when he is 16 so we will just do it for that day.....i have hgv and pcv on mine but have to renew every 5 years (over 45) but that is free

[fuzzy]

just updating this as im renewing mine now. i notice on the dvla reminder they did send that it states that its your photo that expires, not your driving entitlement and you can continue to drive whilst waiting for your new one as long as your not banned or have been refused for medical reasons.

[psychochild187]

i heard about the fact that dvla are losing your catagaroys when you update the photo crads
my card says b,b1,f,k,p
my paper part says
a,b,b+e,g,h,f,k,p

was warned of this at a vehicle hire place

[fuzzy]

ive also heard this, im playing it safe and keeping my card part and declaring it lost although i also have photocopies for insurance purposes.
i currently have b, be,c1,c1e,d1,d1e,f,k,l,n and p. to be honest i dont know what half them are and the chances of me needing to drive a 7.5 ton or 16 seat minibus with trailers are remote.
its likely deliberate by the dvla as all those catagories were free on passing your test back then but now you have to pay extra and sit tests to gain them.
i have 9 expired points that i never had removed. i hope they dont charge extra for that.

[325isporttech1]

Im okay because i seem to get banned once every 3 years