Check your driving licence discussion
Options
Comments
-
I'm going to Italy for a week in July and will be hiring a car. Does anyone have experience of using the old style pink licence over there? (It has no photo for those of you too young to remember!).
With all the horror stories of new licences coming back with missing categories, I have never bothered to update to a new type, and since they are still legal, I see no reason to. However, I'm a bit worried that the 20 year old at the hire car outlet in Italy might not accept it.
I have looked at this issue on various websites, but I'm fed up with the topic changing to 'both parts of the licence should be taken' - I haven't got two parts, only one.....!0 -
I thought there might be a thread about this!
We have two cars, one is not used. It hasn't been insured or a while, it's only a cheap car, nor has it been driven.
It was always my understanding that a vehicle had to be insured to drive it on a public road. This seems to have changed to "keep it on a public road".
So for some reason I'm supposed to insure it even though it doesn't need insuring at all.
We've had to declare it off-road in the meantime. We can do that since we have a private layby (rural area) but not everyone will be so fortunate.
Today I learn that I need to supply DVLA with an up to date photo.
The photo on my licence isn't that old and looks exactly like me. There is no need to do this.
As far as I can see my obligation is to send an updated photo.
So I'm minded to do precisely that and return the form and photo as requested without any payment. DVLA then do indeed have an up to date photo of me.
Not normally one for "civil disobedience" but the idea of being raped for twenty quid every so often for absolutely nothing is abhorrent and offensive.
I presume this means that any police car equipped with those in-car lookup devices which read number plates, which comes up behind me, is then going to pull me over to "discuss" my driving licence with me..?0 -
Hi Guys, I have a dilemma, I am disabled and I am on a very limited income from benifits, I need my license photo renewed but I honestly cant afford the £20 fee, anyone know what will happen ?0
-
Just checking.. it says "by 2033 all licences must be in the photocard format; you'll receive reminders to update it closer to the time." - Does this mean 2033 or is it a typo for 2013?0
-
My licence is marked as due to expire in 2015, 10 years after I passed my test. However my wife's is marked as due to expire this year, even though she passed her test in 2007 - that's only five years!
She doesn't have any medical condition, points, convictions or anything like that that may restrict validity - does anyone know why this might be? The only driving difference I can think of between me and her is that she wears glasses. In any case, I don't see how this would affect the photocard validity, because as several people have pointed out the photocard validity is a separate issue to the licence to drive validity. She is 35 and has a 'standard' car driving licence like mine.0 -
Bill_Badger wrote: »I'm going to Italy for a week in July and will be hiring a car. Does anyone have experience of using the old style pink licence over there? (It has no photo for those of you too young to remember!).
With all the horror stories of new licences coming back with missing categories, I have never bothered to update to a new type, and since they are still legal, I see no reason to. However, I'm a bit worried that the 20 year old at the hire car outlet in Italy might not accept it.
I have looked at this issue on various websites, but I'm fed up with the topic changing to 'both parts of the licence should be taken' - I haven't got two parts, only one.....!
Quite right about losing categories. It's not in your interest to update to the new format until you absolutely have to.
A valid old-style licence should be accepted in Europe until 2033.Hi Guys, I have a dilemma, I am disabled and I am on a very limited income from benifits, I need my license photo renewed but I honestly cant afford the £20 fee, anyone know what will happen ?
They threaten you with a large fine if you drive with an invalid photo. But I've never heard of it having happened to anyone, and the police (assuming they even notice) would probably just give a friendly reminder to update it. It doesn't affect your driving entitlement, the expiry of which is on the reverse of your photocard.Just checking.. it says "by 2033 all licences must be in the photocard format; you'll receive reminders to update it closer to the time." - Does this mean 2033 or is it a typo for 2013?
It's not a typo. 2033 is when Our Rulers in Brussels (the EU) has decided that all old-format licences become invalid in favour of a EU-standard photocard licence.
We start introducing these new photocard licences next year.Rank_Outsider wrote: »My licence is marked as due to expire in 2015, 10 years after I passed my test. However my wife's is marked as due to expire this year, even though she passed her test in 2007 - that's only five years!
She doesn't have any medical condition, points, convictions or anything like that that may restrict validity - does anyone know why this might be? The only driving difference I can think of between me and her is that she wears glasses. In any case, I don't see how this would affect the photocard validity, because as several people have pointed out the photocard validity is a separate issue to the licence to drive validity. She is 35 and has a 'standard' car driving licence like mine.
The photocard expiry shouldn't be linked to the 10 year anniversary of your driving test, but rather to the 10yr anniversary of you having last updated your photo.
I'm guessing your wife had her provisional licence for 5 years before she passed her test.0 -
Having to renew each time the photo is out of date, this WASN'T made obvious when we were offered it when they first came out.
In view of the charge for each change, a nice little earner for the DVLA.
I took one our as I felt it would save havingall the paper in the old licence, but as you ALWAYS need the paper copy now, what a con that was.!0 -
Can anyone tell me if you still have to renew if you don't drive anymore.
My son got his renewal form through & has ignored it for a few months so his photo has now expired. He doesn't have a motorbike anymore & has no plans to drive in the near future. Will he get fined if he doesn't renew?
Hoping someone can clarify this for me... thanks, Linda0 -
UnderPressure wrote: »TBH what is the problem with the £20 renewal fee? £2 per year hardly breaking the bank is it?
The problem is, they've changed the contract I had with them.
The booklet they sent with the licence, said the fee I had paid would "cover all future renewals, including renewal after 70".0 -
Talking about the photocard and counterpart style licences.
Your licence is valid until a day before you are 70 only if your photocard is valid.
If you allow your photocard to expire then this makes your licence invalid.
When the first issue of photocard style licences started to expire, your DVLA driver record would be marked up as 'expired substantive or provisional depending on what you had.
Police were instructed to allow one year after the expiry of the photocard before dealing with this.
That changed I believe last summer.
You now have only up to one month to exchange your photocard licence once it has expired.
If you go over the month your driver record changes from 'expired' to 'revoked'.
That means you no longer have a driving licence, the privilege to drive by the DVLA has been withdrawn.
So grasp that thought, you are now driving without a licence.
Minimum 3 points £60 fine, tell your insurance company that you have three points for driving without a licence and expect a hike in your annual charge for 5 years.
The points stay on your licence for 4 years and valid for 3.
Further still , because you are now driving without a licence your car will be siezed and taken to a pound which costs £150 to get back and £20 a night after the first night.
And if you can't get your pride and joy back within 7 days because you havent got a licence it will become a cube of scrap.
So I think £2 a year is well worth having a valid ID for.
They are in existence to protect you the road user from unlicenced drivers.
Recent statistics showed that one in twelve drivers stopped by the police didnt have a valid licence, ie none at all, a provisional, foreigh non EU.
So thats a lot of unqualified drivers out there driving alongside you.
And it also showed that one in eight holds no insurance.
So trust me on this, one month over your expiry date and you haven't got a licence. All it needs is for you to contact DVLA with new pictures.
Also if the DVLA write to you and you ignore their letter they will stop your licence. Just because you physically hold that bit of card, doesn't mean its valid.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.5K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.9K Spending & Discounts
- 235.6K Work, Benefits & Business
- 608.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173.2K Life & Family
- 248.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards