Lost Provisional Licence Years Ago

LittleMonkey16

Hi all

Here's the thing. Around ten years ago I applied for my provisional driver's licence, with the intention of learning, taking my test etc. I got the licence and put it aside, but the learning never came about, and I've never thought about it again until now.

My problem is that my licence is long gone. I had it stored with some other documents which went missing while I was moving around a lot during university. Foolishly, and partly because I didn't intend to learn to drive or to have any dealings with the DVLA for the foreseeable future, it went out of my mind to report it missing at the time. Plus, as it wasn't a full licence, I hadn't thought it would be that big of a deal. To be honest, I thought that if I ever came to need one again, I could just renew it in full when the time came (and I have been toying with the idea of learning to drive for the last few months).

However, upon examining the issue today, it seems that I may have inadvertently signed myself up for a £1000 fine. I have reported the licence lost using the online service today, but of course I never had occasion to change my address on the licence either- it essentially lived in a box in the attic for a while, then went missing. Since it went missing, I have changed address several times. Evidently, not changing your address with the DVLA can carry a £1000 fine- and I had no notion that it was that important, or else I would certainly have dealt with it at the time, and as a matter of urgency.

I just wondered whether anyone knew how likely it is that I'll be fined in this way? I understand that it was a thoughtless error on my part, but £1000 seems a bit harsh for just forgetting about something that I wasn't using anyway. After all, I've never been behind the wheel in my life, nor have I ever used the licence for any purpose whatsoever- so there's been no deliberate deception. It was a genuine error.

Am I already condemned?!

Derivative

I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.
Would be a great story to take to the papers if they did call you up on it.

james_joyce

I agree - don't worry about it.

I mislaid my provisional licence after I failed my test, then 10+ years later when I decided to start learning again I just applied online for a replacement and reported a change of address at the same time. Think it asked for my passport number as proof of identity, possibly because photo licences had been introduced in the meantime! I sent in my photo, got the licence, no problem...

However I did need my driver number to get the replacement licence. By some miracle I had a bit of paper with the number on!