Driving License pictures?

My Mrs has today received a letter from DVLA saying the picture on her plastic card license has expired. Failure to send a new picture and £20 for the privilege then she will be fined £1000.

What is all this about, seems a bit off to me – especially as she looks virtually the same just with different hair. Is this new or has anyone else had this letter?

Sounds like another reason to stick with my paper licence. 🙂

Seems like a bit of a stealth tax to me. Just read that it will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.

Total bollox if you ask me – she didnt ask for the card and was happy with a paper one but somehow got a plastic one too now they want 20 quid to keep it relevant.

They have are only valid for 10 years and then have to be updated, £20 every 10 year isn’t too bad.

Weird. I can’t imagine how the picture could possibly have ‘expired’, if the licence itself is still current. Makes no sense at all. How can they date a picture separate from the licence on which it appears? I don’t believe they can. You send a new picture each time you renew the licence, so logically if the licence is current, the photo is as well. I’d try to phone or email someone at DVLA about it, if I were you.

As above, licenses are only valid 10 years, as you may (or may not) have changed in appearance.

£20 compared to the other costs of 10 years of motoring is such a small fraction of the total cost as to be basically free anyhow.

If she didn’t ask for the card they don’t send one, there must have been some reason it was issued.

Contzero it’s not the photo it’s the licence that needs renewed so the photo still has some likeness, some people can change a lot in 10 years others not much at all. Same reason your passport is 10 years too.

Oh and it’s not stealth tax it’s a well known fact and they’ve even politely contacted her about it.

Its the date on section 4b. They say that date relates to the picture and they need a new one as its 10yrs old. Seriously annoyed me – not the 20 quid which is minor but more the principal.

She paid for a license to start with, then a test. Yet they can continually charge through time to keep a picture up to date. Especially when the card isnt the licence – the licence is a computer record saying you can drive this is just a bit of plastic that allows folk to easily check a record.

EDIT – DRAC passports annoy me too aren’t they nearly 80 quid.

I think your getting a little excited over nothing, is you new addition keeping you awake?

They have are only valid for 10 years and then have to be updated, £20 every 10 year isn’t too bad.

Compared to the paper one which didn’t need updating and didn’t cost 20 quid every 10 years. Test passed at 17yrs, valid until 70yrs saving around 100 quid by not having the plastic, isn’t too bad. 😉

No she is great Drac, every 2hrs through the night isnt too bad but I must be a little more tired than i though 🙁

Its still nonsense though IMO

Oh and it’s not stealth tax it’s a well known fact and they’ve even politely contacted her about it

Politely contacted ? Demanded money with menaces morelike – a £1000 fine if you don’t cough up.

But you’re right it’s not a stealth tax, it’s just plain extortion.

Compared to the paper one which didn’t need updating and didn’t cost 20 quid every 10 years. Test passed at 17yrs, valid until 70yrs saving around 100 quid by not having the plastic, isn’t too bad.

I carry mine in my wallet it provides great photo id if I’m asked say for getting a new mobile phone or collecting a parcel from sorting office, no need for anything else the photo id on the card is enough.

Politely contacted ? Demanded money with menaces morelike – a £1000 fine if you don’t cough up.

No not really it’s all there on DVLA website, could always hand you licence back in if it’s such a chore.

But you’re right it’s not a stealth tax, it’s just plain extortion.

£2 per year, yeah real extortion.

Not a chore, just an expense.
I wish I’d known it was such a small issue for you. You could have paid mine for me.

£2 per year, yeah real extortion.

How about £5 a year ? that won’t be too much will it, or maybe £50, that’s not much either.

I’m sure the DVLA will look forward to your donation.

Is a paper license still valid if it’s fallen to pieces and been stuck back together with sellotape?

If you hand the plastic one back does that mean that you can just keep a paper one? If it does they can have 2 back – mine and hers then £20×2 over say next 50 years = £200 saved better in mine than theirs.

I think I need to get out and ride more to reduce my anger.

Is a paper license still valid if it’s fallen to pieces and been stuck back together with sellotape?

Mine was fine after being washed, torn and taped. Had to renew in the end as I was bit naughty and had to get a new licence when my points got taken off.

I wish I’d known it was such a small issue for you. You could have paid mine for me.

Why would I pay for your licence you took it out so you have to pay, do you ask other strangers to pay for your fuel?

FFS a £20 admin fee for 10 years of being allowed to drive is hardly bloody extortion, is it? Anyway, if you didn’t pay it it’d only come out of taxes so you’d still be paying a chunk of it anyway.

Besides, IMO they should force everyone to retake their test for the licence renewal, and charge them for the privilege too.

FWIW I need to renew mine by next week… just need to cut my hair as it’s uncharacteristically long at the moment 🙂

FFS a £20 admin fee for 10 years of being allowed to drive is hardly bloody extortion, is it?

Err yeah. times it by x million licences and its a nice little earner.

extortion sounds about right to me.

do you ask other strangers to pay for your fuel?

I’d quite like you to, yes thanks. You seem more than happy to tell me what I should be spending my money on so it only seems fair that you reciprocate.

Err yeah. times it by x million licences and its a nice little earner.

Why would I do that though when I can just pay £20?

Make a note of the categories before you send it back as they have a habit of ‘loosing’ a few like your 7.5t or trailer category on the replacement license. If that happens you have to take the relevant test to get it back.

Err yeah. times it by x million licences and its a nice little earner.

I doubt it very much.

It’s not going to be “x million” every week. Plus for many it is completely free – disabled, over 70, Bus or lorry, Change of name and or address, Add entitlement to full licence, Provisional to full car, motorcycle, moped, bus or lorry, and First provisional – bus or lorry, are all free.

So they probably just cover their costs. It is unlikely that this “stealth tax” generates enough to pay for the odd new school or hospital.

The average cost of running a car is over £2000 a year. £20 every 10 years is hardly breaking the bank is it? Compares quite favourably to a passport too.

I doubt there’s a lot of slack in that £20 fee either, once you’ve accounted for the staffing, security checks, the IT system, the exemptions as above.

Err yeah. times it by x million licences and its a nice little earner.

What sort of argument is that? If you have x million licences then there’s x million lots of admin to do and x million licences to print and x million packages’ worth of postage to pay for.

Multiply it by what you want – it doesn’t change anything.

i got one of those letters last april to renew my photo card licence.
well i still haven’t got round to it, and haven’t had another letter or a fine, yet 😳
completely forgot about it until i read this thread

Had to renew in the end as I was bit naughty and had to get a new licence when my points got taken off.

How naughty? Mine still has the expired speeding points on there – can’t see why it should bother me.

it’s totally tough shit really, who is going to pay for the license to be updated with a new photo if it isn’t the license holder?

and as far as saying it doesn’t need updating, mine does, I guess a lot of peoples does after 10 years, you should think yourself lucky that yours doesn’t

jeeeeeeezzzzz!

i got one of those letters last april …… haven’t had another letter or a fine

You mean the old bill haven’t managed to get round to serving you with an arrest warrant for non-payment of fine yet.

Expect to get pulled up any day now.

I look forward to seeing it on Road Wars.

It’s a PITA, you’ve reminded me mine has expired.

Don’t think of it as a tax, it’s charity. For only £20 every ten years you can keep an otherwise redundant civil servant in employment. I feel better already 🙂

ha ha i’d die of shame if that happened.
i will renew it pronto 😀

Do these people that still have valid paper licenses never move house?

I’ve not moved in 16 years (17 in April). Still got a pink paper licence. ‘Twas a laugh when the girl at the employment people (A4E) asked for my licence as ID and then asked for the plastic card!! She’d never seen an old type licence. 🙂

She’d never seen an old type licence.

Ever had an old person show you their ration book?

Well that’s how she felt… 😉

Over 13 years in the same house – I guess I didn’t miss phtocards by much. Can’t see myself moving for a lot of years yet either – why do people feel the need to move house lots? (then again, over 17 years in the same job!)

There does seem to be an assumption now that you’ve got a photocard, with instructions telling you to show both parts.

How naughty? Mine still has the expired speeding points on there – can’t see why it should bother me.

I wanted them taken off for work.

If that happens you have to take the relevant test to get it back.

Yeah they have been missed off happened to some people at work. A phone call seems to sort it though not a retest.

I wanted them taken off for work.

What job do you have that it matters having expired points on your licence?

why do people feel the need to move house lots?

Have families. Change jobs. Move up to a nicer house. Downgrade to a smaller one. Fancy a change.

What job do you have that it matters having expired points on your licence?

If you really don’t know the answer to that, then you really don’t pay much attention to other people on here aracer.

Or is it a just a ploy to get Drac to prove how it would affect his job ?

I can fully understand why Drac might want some confidentiality concerning the issue, whether or nor not it “technically” affects his employment.

<shrugs> I know very little about most people on here – is it compulsory to follow exactly what everybody does?