lolly

Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photocard driving licences expire

Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.

They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photocard licence which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70.

The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, just as the they start to expire.
Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life.




A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photocards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b'

They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed.

To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to a pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.
I have looked at mine and it expires in 2011 is there anyway to renew it from the USA ???

K2JLX

To my knowledge you'll have to fill out and submit the application to the DVLA in Swansea, whether you live in the USA or anywhere else. My issue is that i have misplaced the counterpart of the photocard, and you cant renew the photo without submitting the counterpart. My photo expires next month, so i'm in a little bit of a position. :S

Longy

Firstly they won't let you put a non-UK address on it.

Secondly why would you want to renew it? It almost certainly isn't valid if you are not resident in the UK.

Bob

I don't know what it's such a shock because there was so much fuss at the time when they came out that they would only be valid for 10 years.

As for renewing, no idea, but someone posted about this a couple weeks ago with info on what to do....

Steerpike

"Please read" -



"please treat this post as being far more important than every other post here"

englishinfl

Well it's subjective isn't it? I don't know why it would seem so funny to you, to the OP the thread probably IS more important than any other.

Ray

Seems obvious to me that any card with a photo will have to be replaced
every X years

Steerpike

kinda my point ... who would ever bother to write a post and then say in the subject, 'please ignore' or 'don't read'.

englishinfl

Roman numerals, Ray?
Kind of showing your age there.. or maybe just your classical education?

Dan B

My 4b says "28-11-2012". I probably won't bother renewing it, seeing that the world ends less than a month after that.

Ray

Umm!! it actally meant undefined number

Duncan Roberts

Yeah. That damn passport agency and their stealth tax having to renew it every 10 years. Because I'm sure I'll look the same when I'm 67 as I did when I was 17.

englishinfl

LoL It just struck me as funny that it coincided with the ten year life that they actually have on the licences. Naturally I wondered if it was a classy way of denoting a 10... well either that or you were blowing a kiss in there.

neil

Exactly what I was thinking - irrelevant on a USA forum. Wasn't there another thread recently that said once you go back you can just apply as though it's a renewal even if the photocard part has expired?

Patrick Hasler

1) ... A UK licence can't be renewed unless you live in the UK.
2) ... As I was told by DLVA in Swansea over the phone a few years back if ever I return to the UK to live and want to renew it I can do so on arrival.
3) ... Your US licence will be valid for the first 6 months back in the UK so you will be permitted to drive while you wait for the UK one.
4) ... The only way you will be fined is if you are stopped and produce the Uk one before it is renewed.