Driving Licence updates in the news again.

Iceweasel

Can anyone remember exactly how much the old licences cost back in the 1970s when we had to pay to renew them every 3 years.

I would guess that taking inflation into account the £20 every 10 years is about the same cost/year.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Aretnap wrote: »

I think the biggest gripe is that the paper licence doesn't have to be updated until your 70th birthday, whereas once you get a photocard you're stuck with paying £20 every 10 years to update the photo. That seems like a fair enough reason not to go out of your way to get a photocard if you don't need one, but in the grand scheme of things £2 a year for your driving licence is not exactly a big deal compared with, say, giving £40 or so to the treasury every time you fill your petrol tank.

It is a gripe because the original driving licences deal was done about 1970, when driving licences used to be valid for only three years and cost £1. The government then announced that a driving licence would cost £5 BUT WOULD BE VALID FOR LIFE.

Then the EU had to meddle and the photo licence was introduced along with the £20 charge every 10 years. So it's another broken promise from the government.

AdrianC

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

The government then announced that a driving licence would cost £5 BUT WOULD BE VALID FOR LIFE.

So it's another broken promise from the government.

Oh, !!!!!!... Are you serious? Take it up with Harold Wilson - he had no mandate to "promise" anything wouldn't change in the lifetime of any individual. Politicians never do. The world changes.

The UK was about the last civilised country without a photo driving licence, an absolutely laughable state of affairs and open to widespread abuse.

molerat

AdrianC wrote: »

Oh, !!!!!!... Are you serious? Take it up with Harold Wilson - he had no mandate to "promise" anything wouldn't change in the lifetime of any individual. Politicians never do. The world changes.

The UK was about the last civilised country without a photo driving licence, an absolutely laughable state of affairs and open to widespread abuse.

Just like the photo licence isn't :rotfl:

AdrianC

molerat wrote: »

Just like the photo licence isn't :rotfl:

It's a damn sight less easy to claim you're somebody else with a picture sat there.

Aretnap

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

It is a gripe because the original driving licences deal was done about 1970, when driving licences used to be valid for only three years and cost £1. The government then announced that a driving licence would cost £5 BUT WOULD BE VALID FOR LIFE.

Then the EU had to meddle and the photo licence was introduced along with the £20 charge every 10 years. So it's another broken promise from the government.

AdrianC wrote: »

Oh, !!!!!!... Are you serious? Take it up with Harold Wilson - he had no mandate to "promise" anything wouldn't change in the lifetime of any individual. Politicians never do. The world changes.

This, pretty much. If you're daft enough to think that any politician can make promises about what their successors' successors are going to do in 40 years time, of course you're going to end up disappointed.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Aretnap wrote: »

This, pretty much. If you're daft enough to think that any politician can make promises about what their successors' successors are going to do in 40 years time, of course you're going to end up disappointed.

So if you bought your council house years ago, and then Mr Cameron came along and told you that you got too good a bargain and would have to pay more, you'd be happy about it would you?

As it happens, I, along with millions of others, do believe that a politician's promise should be kept. The fact they don't is why they are held in such utter contempt nowadays. Millions of drivers now in their 50's, 60's and 70's still remember that promise.

If the politicians treated their promises to the EU the same as they do to the British electorate, we would be breaking every EU rule every day! Where would that put the 2033 deadline and photo driving licences then?

Rant over.

AdrianC

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

So if you bought your council house years ago, and then Mr Cameron came along and told you that you got too good a bargain and would have to pay more, you'd be happy about it would you?

You had a sale contract with the council to buy that house. Contracts can never be retrospectively renegotiated. You have no contract regarding Wilson's "promises" over driving licences.

If the politicians treated their promises to the EU the same as they do to the British electorate, we would be breaking every EU rule every day!

What you seem to forget is that the UK is as much involved in setting those EU directives as any other member state. If we don't like them, then we should work with the system before they're agreed. If we're in a small minority over not liking them, then - hey-ho. That's democracy for you. Who ever promised you'd get your way 100% of the time?

Iceweasel

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

As it happens, I, along with millions of others, do believe that a politician's promise should be kept. The fact they don't is why they are held in such utter contempt nowadays. Millions of drivers now in their 50's, 60's and 70's still remember that promise.

If the politicians treated their promises to the EU the same as they do to the British electorate, we would be breaking every EU rule every day! Where would that put the 2033 deadline and photo driving licences then?

Rant over.

I agree with you completely.

We are breaking most (not every) EU rule as we somehow negotiated our way out of many of the rules by daft exemptions.

If you've ever seen a minibus full of Scouts being turned back at Calais for anything up to 8 'illegalities' then you wonder what was the point.

Most EU rules you can forget if you don't venture beyond our shores.

But gov.uk needs to publicise a bit more exactly what rules we are exempt from as long as we stay on our island.

Car_54

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Millions of drivers now in their 50's, 60's and 70's still remember that promise.

Do you really believe that?