More than 40,000 drivers risk fines of up to £1,000 because they have failed to renew their photocard driving licences.
Sorry if this has been posted b4,
taken from Jeremy Clarkson’s Archive (the timesonline)
Many will not have realised that photocards expire after ten years, unlike the old green paper licences, which were valid until the driver was 70. Drivers risk prosecution if stopped by police and may also find that their insurers refuse to pay out on claims they make.
The problem has only emerged in recent months because photocards were first issued in 1998. The first renewals were due in July last year, and between then and the end of January 173,867 photocards expired.
Figures obtained by The Times from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) show that only 128,987 of those drivers have paid £17.50 and sent in new photos to renew their licences, leaving 44,880 outstanding. Some of those drivers will have died or stopped driving, but the vast majority will have failed to notice the small print on their photocards showing the expiry date. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/article5741199.ece
The majority of drivers are unaware that there is an expiary date on the new licence, the bulk of the transport industry didn’t realise and they are the “proffesional drivers”. There should be an awareness campaign because a number of people will be driving around with out of date licences. The idea of renewing the licence is great because it allows for an up to date photo to be added, the only thing they have forgotten to do is let everyone know. The reminder’s up until recently haven’t always gone out and within our office we found 6 people who hadn’t realised there licence was out of date.
Sooner or later there will be a test case in court where someone has had a serious accident and they are driving with an out of date licence (this may have already happened, I haven’t seen or heard anything yet though), I think that then we will see a marketing campaign to make us all aware.
Read an article in MCN a couple of weeks ago whereby the DVLA were failing to put the motorbike classification back on some licences sent in for renewal/change and being really awkward about it. Just a heads up!
Don’t seem that would be enough for those t#ss#ers at the DVLA. The guy in the article is a motorcycle mechanic working for plod. Plod sent a letter stating that they had evidenced his driving licence as he needed it to ride the bikes when out on test. He even got a letter from the examiner who passed him…guess what, still not enough to convince those w’nk’ers at the DVLA. Last comment from them was that he may have to take his test again.
Thats one of the reasons that I have kept all the paperwork from my CBT & DAS. If they do remove it then I have all the paperwork to prove it.
On the renewal £17 is not much, when you consider that I have moved five times since I have had mine an it has never cost me a been to change the details.
This is something that really gets my goat. Its not just licences either, watch out when you sell a vehicle because if the new owner doesnt send of their bit of the V5, they you could be liable. The last 2 vehicles I sold, I insisted on filling the paperwork out at the point of sale, my postage, my envelope and both time the new owner didnt have a problem. The worst culprits seem to be mates who have brought vehicle from you, easy to get them to do the right thing, but only after the event of receiving a parking ticket or NIP.
Take copies of all your paperwork, scanned would be better. better safe than sorry I suppose
that happened to me at the initial paper to picture licence change over.
it took over a year and lots of press coverage of higher profile cases before the issue was sorted back then.
I only had mine reinstated after spending weeks in my parents loft searching through all my old rubbish like school certificates etc until i found my 1989 test pass ripped scrap of paper…
