Driving licence renewal - the DVLA and GOV.UK online labyrinth, and its pitfalls and options

br1anst0rm

I am over 70, so I have to renew my driving licence every three years.  My current licence expires in January 2026.  I have just received by post a copy of the D46 licence-renewal application form.

That paper form is for completion and return by post;  but it encourages people to apply online instead via the www.gov.uk website.  So i thought I would use that route  (I had previously renewed my driving licence online three years ago, and i pay my car's road tax online).

The online process was more convoluted than I remember.  Essentially the website requires that in order to renew a driving licence, the applicant is obliged first to create and register a new GOV.UK One Login account, and then login to it.  So i thought I would do so.  Not a reassuring experience.....!

The initial stages are predictable:  enter the usual personal details (birthdate etc) and documentary proof of photo ID (passport or driving licence).  But then there was a choice - either download and switch to the GOV.UK One smartphone app, or 'prove your identity another way'.  I don't have a sufficiently modern iPhone or Android mobile with camera and QR code facility, and wasn't keen to download the app on to my phone.  

So I opted for another way.  I filled in several more personal-information boxes...... and then the next step was for the website process to verify my identity by checking certain details of my financial history and records.  A popup said this drew on the records held by Experian.  The next webpage then announced - "Sorry, we cannot verify your details and cannot complete your GOV.UK One Login account-creation... please try another way".

Thus after half-an hour, i had got precisely nowhere.  Although I have bank accounts, I have no mortgage or loans, no debts and a completely clean credit history - so maybe Experian has very little about me on its records (which is fine by me).

But this left me looking at how else I could proceed.  The gov.uk website suggested that the only alternative option was to take licence, application from, proof of ID and photo to a Post Office.  Apparently they would - for a fee? - verify my identity and presumably process or forward the licence renewal application.  Perhaps (this wasn't clear) they would complete and activate my GOV.UK One account as well.  The only problem is that I live in a rural area and in the wake of recent local Post Office closures, the nearest PO capable of doing the identity verification is very many miles away....

I decided to leave the licence renewal pending for the moment.  But just out of interest I searched online for more details of this new GOV.UK One Login online digital ID account and app (which supposedly gives access to other, but not all, government services).  Not a reassuring picture.  It's a new government initiative, still being "rolled out".  And there are articles online from IT experts warning that some of the design and development of the system was outsourced to Romania (eh?!) and it is  riddled with "serious security and data protection problems".  See for example this piece in Computer Weekly.  No huge surprise, given the government's poor track record and history of security breaches and data leaks with other similar systems.

So for now I don't yet have a GOV.UK One Login account.   But there is a postscript.  

Slightly irritated by this runaround I looked on the MSE website and I clicked a link about driving licence renewal.  This took me to another website - the DVLA portal, here. This appears to be a genuine and secure official website (with htttps:// address).  So - I thought - I'll see what happens if I begin a licence-renewal application on this site.  

Usual sequence of questions and boxes to fill in;  and, long story short, I was able to complete the entire process right through to the final stage which was an on-screen confirmation, with DVLA reference number, that my renewal application had  been accepted;  and then a separate email to me confirming that it was being processed and that my new licence would be sent to me within 2 weeks and asking me then to cut up and send in my old licence.

Thus it looks as if I have demonstrated (a) that the GOV.UK One Login setup is both complicated and somewhat iffy;  (b) that it appears still to be possible, despite what is said on the www.gov.uk website, to access and use the DVLA's own online portal to renew a licence;   and (c) that this can all be done without being obliged to create a GOV.UK One Login account, or download the app, or visit a Post Office.

Mildly_Miffed

br1anst0rm said:

The online process was more convoluted than I remember.  Essentially the website requires that in order to renew a driving licence, the applicant is obliged first to create and register a new GOV.UK One Login account, and then login to it.  So i thought I would do so.  Not a reassuring experience.....!

The initial stages are predictable:  enter the usual personal details (birthdate etc) and documentary proof of photo ID (passport or driving licence).  But then there was a choice - either download and switch to the GOV.UK One smartphone app, or 'prove your identity another way'.  I don't have a sufficiently modern iPhone or Android mobile with camera and QR code facility, and wasn't keen to download the app on to my phone.  

I helped a friend through this recently (not for DL renewal), and it was smooth once we'd got our heads around the fact you needed to do it on the website, then switch to the app for facial verification.

The alternative being waved was to go to the post office with driving licence in hand.

This took me to another website - the DVLA portal, here. This appears to be a genuine and secure official website (with htttps:// address). So - I thought - I'll see what happens if I begin a licence-renewal application on this site

The ONLY relevant part of that URL that confirms it's genuine is the fact it's a .gov.uk domain.

https://motoring.dvla.gov.uk/service/DvoConsumer.portal

HTTPS:// just says you have a secure connection to the webserver, and offers no confirmation that the website the other end is genuine or honest.

Neil49

I am also over 70 and recently renewed my driving licence. 

Can I just point out that the renewal document gives details of a specific link to use for online renewals and this takes you straight to the appropriate form. 

br1anst0rm

Thanks @Mildly_Miffed...  Of course your comments about website identity and security are correct, and I was very aware of that as I worked my way through this experience.

What I find intriguing is that there are apparently different routes and different websites - but that the site whose address is officially provided on the renewal reminder did not link me to the DVLA portal.  It took me to the website which insisted that I had to create a GOV.UK One Login account in order to renew my licence.  This - as I discovered - turned out not to be the case.  

The attempt to force people to use a mobile phone app seems to me very user-unfriendly.  Not everyone has - or wants to use - a smartphone or an app.  Not everyone, these days, is within easy reach of the shrinking network of Post Offices. If the government is trying to be inclusive, efficient and client-focused, they are not succeeding.

br1anst0rm

Neil49 said:

I am also over 70 and recently renewed my driving licence. 

Can I just point out that the renewal document gives details of a specific link to use for online renewals and this takes you straight to the appropriate form. 

"Curiouser and curiouser" as Alice in Wonderland might say.  Yes, there is a specific link.  I used that link provided in the D46 renewal reminder form when I started this exercise.  That took me to a webpage on the gov.uk website which led me down the rabbit hole described in my original post.

So I have just tried again, and put the exact same web address from the link into my browser.  And this time, when I clicked on the "Start Now" button it took me to..... yes, you guessed .... the DVLA portal (which then leads on to the appropriate form)!  Nothing about the requirement to have a GOV.UK One Login account in order to proceed.

Go figure.  A temporary glitch in the www.gov.uk website?  A broken or misdirected link within the site?  I have no idea.  But it wasted a good hour of my time.  I still remain sceptical about the reliability of official government websites (and I ought to add that I am a former, now retired, government official!)

facade

Could this be because of the drive to make everyone have a digital ID? (despite the many glaring & obvious flaws they are still pushing ahead)

TooManyPoints

Have you got a passport?

br1anst0rm

facade said:

Could this be because of the drive to make everyone have a digital ID? (despite the many glaring & obvious flaws they are still pushing ahead)

Yes

TooManyPoints said:

Have you got a passport?

and Yes

pseudodox

I just completed my online renewal application and it could not have been more straightforward.  Using the link of the D46P (www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence-at-70) it took about 5 minutes, once I had gathered my NI number, driver number and passport number (there is an opt out if you don't have a passport BTW).  It said my DL photo was out of date and gave me the option to renew using my passport photo (tick) - maybe if you don't have a passport this causes a bit more complication.

Not sure why they want an old DL cut in half and returned it to them - this does not strike me as particularly secure as even if cut up my personal details can still be read by some nefarious thief should it go astray in the post!  But if DVLA want to make a stash of old DLs who am I to argue.  But they will have to wait until I can get to a PO (if I can find one!) for a single stamp as Tesco etc only sell books & I never use stamps these days.  Perhaps DVLA should request we send pictures of the cut up card then burn it.

TooManyPoints

and Yes

Then you do not need to do any of the things you describe. You don't need a ".Gov One" account or anything like that.

Just complete the form, provide your passport number (which will give them access to your photo) and that's about it.

flaneurs_lobster

There are clearly savings to be made (eventually) along with other benefits if there is a single access method across all GOV.UK services.

Since 95% of the UK adult population own a smartphone I don't see how it can be unreasonable of the Government to concentrate its efforts towards this method of facilitating identity verification (a 1-off exercise to access the new One Login) and ongoing access controls. 

By no means should the demographic who choose to, or have other reasons for, not using a smartphone be excluded but they might have to accept that they are very much the outlier.

The DVLA is the first major Government Agency to move towards One Login access, there are others but they are very low traffic by comparison. Not surprisingly there are glitches and complications, especially as they are effectively running both the old and new systems concurrently. 

Hardly a representative sample but it may be telling that the two posts I have seen here where the new DVLA access methods have been an issue were both with people wishing to renew a 70+ licence. it does seem that this can be done without additional logins by completion of a simple online form, perhaps the real criticism is that this pathway is not made more obvious from the first DVLA webpage.