Deciding not to renew a licence 70+ - how to do it

GreenTed

My Mum has received a letter & form with an application to renew her driving license.  She hasn't driven for a while now - no-one has told her she can't drive, but she doesn't feel safe/confident to do so any more.  Can she simply not return the form, or does she have to somehow tell them and return her license?  There's nothing on the form telling you what to do if you simply don't want a driving license any more, not that we can find anyway.  She really doesn't need another letter to arrive with confusing spiel about not returning the form as the post is quite daunting for her these days.  Has anyone done this themselves/with a relative and know what the best way to proceed is?  Thanks.

chrisw

She can just ignore it and her licence will simply expire. Nobody will chase it. 

lr1277

One thing to consider is that a driving licence can act as a form of ID. If your mum has an expired licence how would she prove her ID? I have no good answers in this situation. Sorry.

prettyandfluffy

lr1277 said:

One thing to consider is that a driving licence can act as a form of ID. If your mum has an expired licence how would she prove her ID? I have no good answers in this situation. Sorry.

A good point, my MIL found herself without photo ID after not renewing her driving licence or passport.  Your Mum may have another form of photo ID, or the expired driving licence might suffice; for voting purposes details are here: https://www.gov.uk/how-to-vote/photo-id-youll-need

Grey_Critic

If you read the form on the reverse bottom right then there is a box to tick saying I do not wish to renew or words to that effect. Tick - Sign and return with the licnce.

Just done it for my wife who has not driven since Covid and has various health issues. She has already saqid she doe no want to drive these days with the traffic and the manner of some peoples driving.

GreenTed

Grey_Critic said:

If you read the form on the reverse bottom right then there is a box to tick saying I do not wish to renew or words to that effect. Tick - Sign and return with the licnce.

Just done it for my wife who has not driven since Covid and has various health issues. She has already saqid she doe no want to drive these days with the traffic and the manner of some peoples driving.

Thank you.  I had literally minutes to look at the letter so didn't see that part.  I'm sorry to hear about your wife, what a nuisance for her.  With the health issues I suppose they could go on the form, I thought, but if not renewing the license anyway then I don't see why the DVLA should have to know.  Thanks.

GreenTed

lr1277 said:

One thing to consider is that a driving licence can act as a form of ID. If your mum has an expired licence how would she prove her ID? I have no good answers in this situation. Sorry.

Thank you, and prettyandfluffy - I did think it could be difficult to be left without ID, but as there are health issues, we just don't know really whether she'd be entitled to one or not, no-one has said definitely not but perhaps this because she's not driving anyway, and she's made a sensible decision.  Voting is postal so not a worry.  It's a very good point to consider though, and free to renew unlike a passport.

lr1277

It is not just voting. I have had to prove ID for banks, collecting parcels and perhaps other things that I don't remember. Your mother may not come across any of these situation but I prefer to be prepared.

Whilst the UK goverment will accept expired driving licences for voting, I am not sure how many other orgnaisations will do the same.

My dad had dementia so could not remember things like banks passwords and other answers to his security questions. So when we called the bank, he could not answer some of the questions without being prompted by me or my mum. The bank operative heard the prompting and immediately suspended his account. The only way to get the account unsuspended was a visit to branch with valid ID.

I don't know if your mum has organised an LPA or has plans to do so. We used a solicitor to do this and my parents had to provide valid ID which I would assume would mean an in-date form of ID. I have no idea of the ID requirements if you make an LPA through the government website.

Bigwheels1111

Please just renew it for id, it’s so hard now days without photo id.
During covid my doctors would not let me have a blood test without id, God knows why.
I refused to provide it, That’s another story.
Could not open 3 saving accounts last year as moved and license was getting address updated.
What a pain. All the banks and building societies had my new address and I already had accounts with them but no id no account.

Okell

Perhaps I'm mistaken but my understanding is that expired passports and expired photo driving licences remain valid as proof of identity(?).

After all, if you've had a valid passport or valid photo driving licence you don't suddenly cease to be that person as regards "identity" when it expires.

Emmia

Okell said:

Perhaps I'm mistaken but my understanding is that expired passports and expired photo driving licences remain valid as proof of identity(?).

After all, if you've had a valid passport or valid photo driving licence you don't suddenly cease to be that person as regards "identity" when it expires.

The acceptance of expired documents is situation dependent - the passport photo of a 20year old may look little like the same person as a  60year old for example, should that ancient passport still be accepted as ID then?