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Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photocard driving licences expire
Last updated at 02:05am on 12.09.08
Thousands of motorists risk being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.
They have failed to spot that their photocard licence automatically expires after ten years and has to be renewed.
Motoring organisations said most drivers believed, wrongly, that their new-style licence was for life and blamed the Government for the fiasco.
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 the fact that photocard licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and must be renewed.
Drivers have to pay £17.50 to renew their card,which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.
The first batch of ten-year photo licences was issued in July 1998, and the confusion has come to light as they start to expire.
DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.
With another 300,000 photocard licences due to expire over the coming year, the number of invalid licences could soar. A total of 25million have been issued.
At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the credit card-size photo licence. Just below the driver's name is a numbered series of dates and details.
4b: The small print on the back of the driving licence is easy to miss
Number '4b' features a date in tiny writing but the significance is explained only if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'.
Even more confusingly, a table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is until their 70th birthday.
Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving but the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.
The DVLA said yesterday that the date of expiry was carried on the new-style licences, but was unable to say whether motorists were told the licences would expire when they were first issued.
A spokesman said: 'It is important that photocards are updated every ten years to ensure the police and other enforcement agencies can identify whether a driving licence is being used fraudulently.'
The agency is sending reminders to drivers whose photocard is due to expire, and no one has so far been charged with failing to surrender their licence.
The Association of British Insurers and the Department for Transport said that insurance cover was not affected if drivers failed to update their photocard.
Reader views (6)
I tried checking the DVLA website to find out how to renew my licence, and interestingly it doesn't mention anything about expiry dates on photocard licences! So yet again a government system sends us round the houses to pay for more people to push more buttons and more paper needlessly, and then fails to explain itself!
- Michelle, Bradford, UK
I understand the reason for th erenewal is the photograph is valid for ten years to take into account we might look different by then. A renewal of a licence will use a new photo. Changing address uses the old photo which will still expire.
C'mon guys, think about it.
- B. Hudson, Prescot, UK
Ho hum, such is life. But then we are happy that passports have to be renewed every 10 years and that we have to pay for the priviledge. So why complain about the driving licence and not the passport? It's all about choices really. Go abroad or holiday at home; drive or dont drive.
- Mike Burston, Sheffield, UK
This is just another example of secret taxes, that this dishonest government is robbing us all with. The sooner the (man in the street) comes to his collective senses and gets rid of them, the better it will be for all of us.
- Ian Edmonds, Reading UK
I was not charged for changing my address which happened twice, But then neither was the expiry date changed when I did.
- Bob Dakin, Plymouth, UK
Why do the people with a paper licence not have to renew their licence? Is it not unfair that just because one changes their name or address that we then have to pay £17.50 but the other group of people who never move or change their name never have to renew or pay that extra £17.50, where is the security with those?
- Margaret Cotten, Diss, UK
