MSE News: Driving licence warning: Keep it up to date or face £1,000 fine

ollski

Aretnap wrote: »

The cost will include the cost of installing and maintaining the mainframe computer which deals with photocards (no idea what this is, but it will be significant, divided by the number of renewals.

Yes because as drivers we were all crying out for that to be installed.

Guest101

All fine's outside of court are voluntary, and if there is any doubt to the offence, it is worth pursuing in court.

The burden of proof is quite high.

For exampl if you are pulled over for speeding (or driving in excess of the speed limit i should say) - you should check how this was measured, when the machine (if any was calibrated), if the officers are from a specialist traffic unit, etc.

Take notes, just like the police do. Or better yet, film the situation.

Do not leave your vehicle when you are stopped, you are not obliged to. When you enter the police car, its psychological, the pressure starts to mount, back seat on your own, compared to 2 in the front.

Make sure you note exactly why they have stopped you. do not answer any questions. and never once cautioned answer anything.

Speeding tickets are exactly the same as this. It's admiting the offence.

Caddyman

scotsbob wrote: »

:rotfl:my thoughts exactly, a barrack room lawyer like caddyman must be a real bundle of joy to live with

Lol! there's nothing barrack room lawyer about anything I've stated. It's part of the obligations of having a driving licence. Sadly there are those who continually trot through life sticking two fingers up at the State because that's what they feel like doing. Everything is just too much trouble for some people, including it would seem, keeping driving licence details up to date. Honestly, I sometimes despair at others inability to keep on top of the most basic obligations.

I do have a relative who passed their driving test about 4 years ago. On passing the test, she failed to exchange her driving test pass certificate for a driving licence within two years. She then lost her right to a licence and was told to retake her test. In my view, utter stupidity on her part and you should have heard the excuses she trotted out! She never has retaken her test by the way and of course hasn't driven since, which is probably just as well.

I too absolutely agree that the £20 charge for a photocard licence is excessive, especially when you add on the charges for photos/postage etc. It is a typical example though of the State system charging as much as possible for a service which probably in real terms costs far less. I suppose though the DVLA would trot out the excuse it keeps people in jobs and the whole thing has to be paid for and administered somehow.

50Twuncle

Has anyone actually been fined a penny for not updating their driving licence ?
This appears to just be another case of scaremongering by MSE, OK they COULD fine you up to £1000 for not updating it - but would any sane magistrate seriously fine you for such a trivial offence ?
I don't honestly believe that they would......
Murderers have received less harsh penalties !!

So - come on MSE - Prove this is not just scaremongering....

vaio

21Twinkle wrote: »

........So - come on MSE - Prove this is not just scaremongering....

I'd be inclined not to hold your breath

MiserlyMartin

Caddyman wrote: »

Sounds harsh I know, but failure to update a photocard driving license, is just poor personal administration. Every driver who has legally passed their driving test should know that their photocard license has an expiry date of ten years.

Rubbish. When I paid for my driving licence when I passed my test, I paid for a licence that expired on my 75th Birthday - none of this renewing every 10 ten years at vast expense rubbish. How did the DVLA get away with this change

MiserlyMartin

21Twinkle wrote: »

Has anyone actually been fined a penny for not updating their driving licence ?
This appears to just be another case of scaremongering by MSE, OK they COULD fine you up to £1000 for not updating it - but would any sane magistrate seriously fine you for such a trivial offence ?
I don't honestly believe that they would......
Murderers have received less harsh penalties !!

So - come on MSE - Prove this is not just scaremongering....

Sounds like scaremongering indeed. Where did this story come from? , I agree, MSE has become very PC and lefty these days.

MiserlyMartin

Caddyman wrote: »

I too absolutely agree that the £20 charge for a photocard licence is excessive, especially when you add on the charges for photos/postage etc. It is a typical example though of the State system charging as much as possible for a service which probably in real terms costs far less. I suppose though the DVLA would trot out the excuse it keeps people in jobs and the whole thing has to be paid for and administered somehow.

Its like car parks that used to be free. Now they need to charge for parking to meet the running costs of having the machines and parking wardens...

Strider590

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

Rubbish. When I paid for my driving licence when I passed my test, I paid for a licence that expired on my 75th Birthday - none of this renewing every 10 ten years at vast expense rubbish. How did the DVLA get away with this change

Vast expense = £20 ?

It was done because of people (mostly Asian and Eastern European) paying someone else to take their UK driving test for them.

Having a photo ID was supposed to stop this, but in truth it's been about as effective as "chip and pin", in both cases the authorities blindly pushed it forward with the only "expert opinion" coming from the company that stood to profit from it.

Like at my workplace, they were convinced that fingerprint scanners for the staff entrance were a good idea, the idea had been sold to them by a company that sells the things. BUT I pointed out multiple video's and webpages showing exactly how to trick most of these systems and then asked "what would happen if i'd been doing DIY and got my hands covered in hammerite?".

The public sector on the other hand, doesn't seem to have logical people there to vet these stupid decisions. It's all admin staff and no common sense.

Continuous insurance was another one, great idea in principle, but in practice the people they're trying to catch don't use their real names and register all the local communities cars to one fake address 200 miles away, so the system just catches and punishes normal law abiding citizens who happen to lapse on their renewal for whatever reason.

Of course the DVLA are going to push for photocards, they'll make billions of £ from it and nobody stood up and said "hold on, is this really going to make a difference?"

50Twuncle

I have just made a FOI request on DVLA to see just how many people were fined (and how much revenue DVLA made from this source) over the last 3 years - DVLA HAS to answer within 20 days - so watch this space - I will post the response here as soon as I receive it.......