driving licence and expired endorsements

Prothet_of_Doom

Richard53 wrote: »

My paper licence is a nice little history of my misdemeanours over the years. I'd prefer a clean one, but if I send it back for a new one (as you once were able to do) I'll have to pay for a photocard licence and keep paying every few years. My paper licence is valid until I am 70, and I'm keeping it until then, thanks very much.

The only downside is that if you are stopped and the police ask to see your licence, they will be aware that you have had previous convictions. This may or may not affect their treatment of you. I can't say it bothers me much.

Me too.

SP30's in 1998, 2004, 2011.

I never carry my licence as it's very fragile, and I don't want it to fall apart any more, but you get 7 days to produce it, if the police want to stop you and see it. I've had just 3 "producers" in 30 years of motoring, and have been stopped 15 times, in the first 15 years, but all the SP30's were speed camera related. :rotfl:

iolanthe07

lot of places mention a driving licence as an acceptable form of ID,

A colleague of mine wasn't able to rent a car at San Francisco airport because he didn't have a photo licence, despite him showing them his passport. It was very inconvenient, and taxis cost him a good deal more than the £20 to DVLA would have done.

harrys_dad

iolanthe07 wrote: »

lot of places mention a driving licence as an acceptable form of ID,

A colleague of mine wasn't able to rent a car at San Francisco airport because he didn't have a photo licence, despite him showing them his passport. It was very inconvenient, and taxis cost him a good deal more than the £20 to DVLA would have done.

Not sure why not. I have hired a car at that same airport with a paper licence and a passport.

iolanthe07

harrys_dad wrote: »

Not sure why not. I have hired a car at that same airport with a paper licence and a passport.

Depends who you get at the desk, I suppose.

Lum

iolanthe07 wrote: »

lot of places mention a driving licence as an acceptable form of ID,

A colleague of mine wasn't able to rent a car at San Francisco airport because he didn't have a photo licence, despite him showing them his passport. It was very inconvenient, and taxis cost him a good deal more than the £20 to DVLA would have done.

Usually you need to get an international driving permit if you don't have a photo licence and want to drive in America.

harrys_dad

Lum wrote: »

It would have been a shame if your wife had posted that licence and it got lost in the post, wouldn't it?

Regrettably the charge appears on the website as soon as say you do not know the driver number. We could have lied, but hey ho..... We had both been getting away with it anyway as we moved nearly four years ago and had forgotten to inform them.

Lum

Ahh yes, they do ask you for the document number and the driver number, so if you don't have a record of those elsewhere (e.g. a photocopy) then that option doesn't work.

Kinda stupid really as they do the exact same process whether you have it or not, but they don't have to deal with the returned licence. They also don't let you update your logbook online so you still have to send them stuff via a reliable postal method.

Paul_the_Painter

Of course you only need to remember 3 characters of your driver number in order to recreate it. It is made up of the first 5 characters of your surname, your date of birth, your initials, and 3 other characters. Remember those 3 and you can reconstruct your number.

Richard53

Lum wrote: »

Well like I said, it's for you to weigh up the pros and cons.

Yeah, no big deal. I was looking for possible downsides, and that came to mind.

Lum wrote: »

I have no idea how old you are, but given a paper licence and the 53 on the end of your username, I'm going to presume that you're past the point where you need to prove your age to buy cigs and beer and so that aspect is probably less useful to you. Do you have a passport as that also counts?

Good spot I have my 60th later this year, so I don't need to show ID very much. I normally use my passport. If I needed to show ID often, a photocard licence would make sense.

Lum wrote: »

If you don't have a passport or some other photo ID, a photocard licence is cheaper to maintain than a passport.

Good point; hadn't thought of that.

Lum wrote: »

As for points expiry it goes.

3 years - points no longer count against you for totting up, except for certain special offences e.g. drunk driving
4 years - eligible to have them taken off your licence
5 years - insurers are no longer interested in them
11 years - points for those special offences can be taken off.

Thanks for clarifying. I had got the 3 and 5 year things mixed up.

Lum wrote: »

Again, this is down to a balance of the risk of a copper seeing those old points vs the cost of maintaining a photocard. How often are you getting a tug at the roadside anyway, and have you considered just not carrying your licence with you?

Not very often. I am very careful these days (not to make myself a target of their interest, shall we say). I regularly use two bikes and a car, and so I have all the relevant documents for each vehicle (V5s, MoTs, insurance certificates and DL) in a little zip case which I pack with me if I am going to be away overnight or a long way from home. If I lose that case I am screwed, so I take good care of it. I used to carry my licence in my wallet, but I no longer do this. I always have enough with me to prove ID if required, bank cards and so on.