Passed driving test now Dvla says prov licence had expired 12 days earlier so invalid

elainedawson43

Has this happened to anyone before?? My son had 4 tests cancelled due to covid starting with August 2020, he finally had a rescheduled test on 30th April 2021 which he was over the moon to pass. The examiner took his provisional licence off him and after 2 months of waiting for his full licence to arrive we were horrified to receive a letter from DVLA advising him that his provisional licence had in fact run out on the 18th April and as such he would need to reapply for a provisional and resit his test. Why was this not picked up by the examiner and why has it taken Dvla 2 months to let us know. The next test date is now October and my son needs his car to get to his new job. Anyone any idea of what we can do? 

Thrugelmir

Why was the reminder to renew ignored? 

JJ_Egan

Why did your son not pick this up ??

Does the examiner have to read the licence ??

elainedawson43

No reminder was sent out by Dvla and  yes why didn’t the examiner question it when it was given to him at the start of the test?

MattMattMattUK

elainedawson43 said:

Has this happened to anyone before?? My son had 4 tests cancelled due to covid starting with August 2020, he finally had a rescheduled test on 30th April 2021 which he was over the moon to pass. The examiner took his provisional licence off him and after 2 months of waiting for his full licence to arrive we were horrified to receive a letter from DVLA advising him that his provisional licence had in fact run out on the 18th April and as such he would need to reapply for a provisional and resit his test. 

That is legally correct, the test result is invalid as he did not have a valid provisional license, he will also likely need to retake his theory test as well.

elainedawson43 said:

Why was this not picked up by the examiner

Stress, pressure, a bad day, who knows, at this stage it is not really relevant.

elainedawson43 said:

why has it taken Dvla 2 months to let us know.

Backlogs caused by staff working from home, the DVLA being underfunded and short staffed a the best of times, delays with processing physical documents etc.

elainedawson43 said:

The next test date is now October and my son needs his car to get to his new job. Anyone any idea of what we can do? 

Renew his provisional licence, take a new theory test, book a practical test and pass it. In the mean time look for alternative forms of transport (public transport, cycling, walking). In terms of getting a test quickly look at tests further away from home at different test centres, sign up for the cancellation notifications so he can get on a cancellation if one becomes available and potentially call the test centre daily. 

elainedawson43

I thought a provisional licence is valid for 10 years? He only got it when he was 17, he’s now 20?

MattMattMattUK

elainedawson43 said:

I thought a provisional licence is valid for 10 years? He only got it when he was 17, he’s now 20?

I am not sure of the actual expiry of the photocard itself, a full license needs renewing every ten years. However thinking about it I am wondering if it is his theory test which has expired, he would have had two years from passing this theory test to pass his practical test. 

elainedawson43

No his theory test is valid till august this year. 

lincroft1710

The only person you can blame is your son for letting his licence expire. The examiner should have noticed the licence had expired but it does not absolve your son.

JJ_Egan

Better get him to check insurance etc as well .

elainedawson43

I thought the idea of this forum was to get help or options and to hear if anyone else had the same problem during covid. NOT for people to be derogatory. My son is very upset and yes he is partly to blame however he had 4 tests cancelled due to covid and finally got a date only to be disappointed by an oversight.