What is the point of renewing your driving licence?

[Brigadier]

....save that you've passed on, or are now infirm?

Mine is due for renewal at the end of the month, so I was going to do it online. £14, apparently.

But they use your old photo, that they have kept on file from your last application; that photo in itself (provided it had a passing resemblance to you at the time of your original application) could have been as old as God's dog. So, not a lot of use in that one then.....
I haven't changed address, or my given name.

Serious question then, apart from a changed "valid from" and "valid to" date, what have I (or anyone, for that matter) got, for my £14? (Apart from "anyone" being kept in a job, and my £14, of course!)

Interested, of Staffs

 

[Brigadier]

Just came to me........

Passport Agency had an up-to-date photo of me, last year.
If DVLA spoke to PA, they could have that too.

(They don't though - my assistant has renewed her licence last month, and they used her on-file driving licence photo, rather than the one from her passport).

An idea for "improvement" at Civil Service level, methinks - I can just see the billions wasted on a new, non-working database for such things

 

[Nozzle]

It'll save you receiving the £1000 fine for having an invalid driving licence?

Nozzle

 

[Brigadier]

It'll save you receiving the £1000 fine for having an invalid driving licence?

Nozzle

Which, although a technicality Nozzle, is not of any safety or administrative benefit, is it?

Seems somewhat comparable to "wear your belt the other way round, or we'll fine you!"

 

[Johnmelad]

You must renew a photocard licence every 10 years - you’ll receive a reminder before your current licence ends.

There’s a different service if you want to renew your licence and you’re 70 or over.

What you need

To renew online, you need:
a valid UK passport
to be a resident of Great Britain - there’s a different service in Northern Ireland
to pay £14 by MasterCard, Visa, Electron, Maestro or Delta debit or credit card (there’s no fee if you’re over 70 or have a medical short period licence)
addresses of where you’ve lived over the last 3 years
your current driving licence, including the paper counterpart if you have a photocard licence (if you don’t have your licence you must say why in your application)
your National Insurance number
to not be disqualified from driving

How long it takes

Your driving licence should arrive within a week if you apply online.


You must send the photocard and paper counterpart of your old licence to DVLA when you get your new licence. You’ll be told the address to use when you finish the application.

Your new licence will be valid from the date your application is approved, not from the expiry date of your current licence.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

According to the AA no one has ever been fined for not renewing and there are 2million out of date licence holders out there http://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/news/photocard-driving-licence-renewal.html

I guess you would run into problems when insuring though, new policy forms ask you to declare if you have a valid licence do they not and we all know about the small print in insurance policies!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Now this is interesting, your licence expiry date is on the back in column 11, the date on the front is only the photo expiry date http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/blog/ent...tos-do-not-invalidate-driving-licences/46025/

 

[Brigadier]

Now this is interesting, your licence expiry date is on the back in column 11, the date on the front is only the photo expiry date http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/blog/ent...ot-invalidate-driving-licences/46025/[/QUOTE]

Genius - your photo expires, but they replace it with the "expired" one

Still, no-one has come up with any reasonable suggestion as to what benefit my £14 provides, save two date changes, and immunity from a fine......

 

[JBR]

Now this is interesting, your licence expiry date is on the back in column 11, the date on the front is only the photo expiry date http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/blog/ent...ot-invalidate-driving-licences/46025/[/QUOTE]

Genius - your photo expires, but they replace it with the "expired" one

Still, no-one has come up with any reasonable suggestion as to what benefit my £14 provides, save two date changes, and immunity from a fine......

It's obvious. It helps to keep an unnecessary pen pusher in employment.

That's how this country runs: we live in a bureaucracy.

 

[Brigadier]

True dat

 

[jeds]

Just came to me........

Passport Agency had an up-to-date photo of me, last year.
If DVLA spoke to PA, they could have that too.

(They don't though - my assistant has renewed her licence last month, and they used her on-file driving licence photo, rather than the one from her passport).

An idea for "improvement" at Civil Service level, methinks - I can just see the billions wasted on a new, non-working database for such things

Not so. I've never had a photo licence but renewed my (lost and then found again) old pink one last year. The online form asked if I wanted them to use my passport photo, which I agreed to. The licence dropped on the mat the very next morning - much to my complete and utter amazement.

 

[Dave54]

Give a bureaucrat a job and he'll employ two other people to fill out forms in triplicate to explain why nothing was achieved.

 

[longdogs]

I still have the old green and pink licence and intend to keep it for as long as possible. It's held together with sellotape.

 

[Dave54]

I still have the old green and pink licence and intend to keep it for as long as possible. It's held together with sellotape.

Ditto on still having the paper license. The photo license is quite useful ID though so I shall probably get one now I'm 60. You have to renew at 70 in any case, and I could see a silly situation where I'd need to renew before I was 70 and then again when I was. Assuming I last that long of course!

 

[Micilin]

Ditto here on the paper one, though it is in good nick.