Thousands of drivers face fines for expired licences
Many drivers who have the new photocard may not have realised that their photocards expire after ten years, unlike the old green paper licences which are valid until the driver reaches the age of 70. A report in today's Times by transport correspondent Ben Webster says "drivers risk prosecution if stopped by police and may also find that their insurers may refuse to pay out claims they make" because they do not hold a valid UK driving licence.

The first batch of ten-year photo licences was issued in July 1998, and the confusion has come to light as the cards start to expire. Figures obtained from the DVLA by the Times reveal that "only 128,987 of those drivers (who have a photocard that has expired) have paid the fee of £17.50 and sent in new photos to renew their photocard licences, leaving 44,880 outstanding. Some drivers will have died or stopped driving, but the vast majority will have failed to notice the small print on their photocards showing the expiry date". In the example of a photocard alongside, the expiry date is in fact shown - 4b: 01-10-08 - but unless you turn the card over and read the very small printed explanation, that will not be clear to the cardholder.

Edmund King of the AA said the "DVLA has not done enough to inform drivers of the need to renew photocards" and that "even if a reminder is sent to the right address, drivers may think it is a piece of junk mail because they assume their licence is valid until they are 70." He said the photocards should be redesigned to make the expiry date clearer. (16.2.09)

See the TimesOnline article. More

Why has this cropped up as an issue?
Well this is not a new topic for V8 enthusiasts because some 5 months ago we reported a MailOnline article on 12th September 2008 following a tip off from Andy Simpson. He had spotted this interesting item as a Range Rover Register news item and thought it might be of interest to fellow members of the V8 Register.

See MailOnline report. (12.9.08) More

See notes from Mike Russell. (7.11.08) More

Chris Hunt Cooke adds "I doubt you will be able to hang on to your paper licence for many more years, the Government took powers in the Road Safety Act 2006 to require old style licences to be surrendered, so it is a racing certainty they will do so sooner or later." (19.2.09)