Unable to send back my old driving licence

voddyman

Hi, I've lost my driving licence and I've now applied for another one which all went well. However at the end of the application it said that I have to cut up my old licence and send it back to the DVLA, so my obvious question is, how can I do that if I do not have the old licence anymore as I lost it??

chrisw

Don't worry about it. Most people don't bother sending the old one back anyway.

Mike3556

I have done this and forgot to send the old one back cut up, found the envelope a few weeks later and realized, they never asked for it

Mickey666

voddyman said:

Hi, I've lost my driving licence and I've now applied for another one which all went well. However at the end of the application it said that I have to cut up my old licence and send it back to the DVLA, so my obvious question is, how can I do that if I do not have the old licence anymore as I lost it??

You can't, simple as that.  I guess it really means if you do find the old one again, but if you don't what can they do?

I got a replacement licence when I lost mine during a house move.  It subsequently turned up but I've never returned it and have never been asked for it.

Compared to many (most?) other countries, the UK is very lax regarding driving licences anyway and I never carry mine on me except when driving abroad.  If stopped by police you get seven days (I think?) to present it anyway.  Besides, these physical documents are becoming less important now that car tax and insurance databases are online, so it's actually very easy for police to call up your licence details if they need to.

anniecave

Yes, I also never sent mine back (mine expired) and no-one has ever chased me to ask for it back. I'm sure DVLA just destroy any ones they do receive, and they don't try to keep track of which ones they have or haven't had back.