Question on Old paper driving licence.

[RemaL]

Apologies if this has been done to death

My old dear still has the old type paper licence. She is happy to keep this and see's no reason to change and get ripped off with having to renew your photcard every 10 years and get charged to do so

but she asked me if they are still legal as someone told her they are not legal anymore and you can get fined.

I have not found anything online and thought I would ask

[Saleen836]

I still have my paper license, no plans to change it though as it isn't illegal even though a few friends tell me it is!

[Shaw Tarse]

There have been rumours that the DVLA force people to swap from the old style licence to the photo card, but at the moment the old ones are fine.

[Cliftonite]

Saleen836 said:

I still have my paper license, no plans to change it though as it isn't illegal even though a few friends tell me it is!

Licence. It's a licence!

[V8forweekends]

RemaL said:

Apologies if this has been done to death

My old dear still has the old type paper licence. She is happy to keep this and see's no reason to change and get ripped off with having to renew your photcard every 10 years and get charged to do so

but she asked me if they are still legal as someone told her they are not legal anymore and you can get fined.

I have not found anything online and thought I would ask

http://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/news/photocard-driving-licence-renewal.html

See near the bottom - Paper Licences

[agtlaw]

RemaL said:

Apologies if this has been done to death

My old dear still has the old type paper licence. She is happy to keep this and see's no reason to change and get ripped off with having to renew your photcard every 10 years and get charged to do so

but she asked me if they are still legal as someone told her they are not legal anymore and you can get fined.

I have not found anything online and thought I would ask

Your "old dear" is one of nine million at the last count. The paper licence is valid until 2033 - by which time the EU requires every driver in a member state to have a photocard. It's likely to be phased in after 2023 - cards are valid for ten years and a phasing in would avoid a huge one-off withdrawal and renewal exercise. p.s. From age 70, a new licence must be applied for every three years.

[Grandad Gaz]

I still have the old paper licence too and they are legal.

I checked up on this after a rather irritable policeman told me they weren't!

They like to pass this misinformation around as paper ones are harder to ID the driver without further checks.

[catman]

Grandad Gaz said:

I still have the old paper licence too and they are legal.

I checked up on this after a rather irritable policeman told me they weren't!

They like to pass this misinformation around as paper ones are harder to ID the driver without further checks.

I'm inclined to believe that they probably don't know. I had a massive row with a Police Officer years ago, after I allowed my learner driver to cross an amber light.

The alternative would have been serious injury from the car behind. He said that there was nothing in the Highway Code that allowed for this. When I told him what page it was on and offered to show it to him, I thought that his head would explode!

Tim

[XCP]

I used my old paper licence to hire a car in the US not long ago. They are certainly legal.

[Laurel Green]

Another one of the nine million here.

[mph1977]

RemaL said:

Apologies if this has been done to death

My old dear still has the old type paper licence. She is happy to keep this and see's no reason to change and get ripped off with having to renew your photcard every 10 years and get charged to do so

but she asked me if they are still legal as someone told her they are not legal anymore and you can get fined.

I have not found anything online and thought I would ask

If you still live at the same address

If you haven't reached an age where a entitlement needs renewal / falls off without action

If you are happy for any old points still to ber visible

you don't need to change your licence until it expires ( at at 70 if you just have group A entitlements and pre 97 car test pass grandfather rights )

[HTP99]

I have a paper licence however it is in 8 separate bits and held together with Sellotape; off to Spain in the summer and we will be hiring a car so I may finally have to get round to updating it, as much as I don't want to.

[Siscar]

They are legal but it's better to have a new one, it can be an id in more circumstances and isn't going to mean you hit problems hiring a car somewhere far away.

[over_the_hill]

Siscar said:

They are legal but it's better to have a new one, it can be an id in more circumstances and isn't going to mean you hit problems hiring a car somewhere far away.

I have a passport if photographic id is required and would have that with me if I needed to hire a car in another country so please explain why the new type is better for someone in the UK

[Siscar]

over_the_hill said:

I have a passport if photographic id is required and would have that with me if I needed to hire a car in another country so please explain why the new type is better for someone in the UK

Because when you turn up at a car hire desk in the States (or somewhere more remote) you are not dealing with an expert on international documents. To them it looks like you've not brought the bit that you should have brought and a passport is no substitute.

Not worth the risk of being stuck at a car hire desk arguing about it with someone who has been in the job a week and isn't seeing the document that they've been 'trained' to accept.

[scorcher]

Still got my old paper licence and no photo ID. Until they make it free and / or easy, compulsary or until I feel the need to go abroad,I won't be changing.

[john2443]

IIRC the paper licence is THE licence, the plastic one isn't valid on its own, the paper one is the master.

I still have my paper licence, if it was required to have a photo presumably DVLA would have written and told me - I'm taking the view that until they make me or I move house or something else happens that forces it to happen I will do nothing.

My 18yr old uses hers as ID, but it's a long time since anyone queried if I was old enough to drink

(Edited for miss typed ' , the grammar police will be onto it if I don't )

[agtlaw]

john2443 said:

IIRC the paper licence is THE licence, ... , the paper one is the master.

Completely wrong. The card is the DRIVING LICENCE. The paper part is the COUNTERPART DRIVING LICENCE.

Counterparts are due to be phased out by 2015.

[Aston Traveller]

Siscar said:

Because when you turn up at a car hire desk in the States (or somewhere more remote) you are not dealing with an expert on international documents. To them it looks like you've not brought the bit that you should have brought and a passport is no substitute.

Not worth the risk of being stuck at a car hire desk arguing about it with someone who has been in the job a week and isn't seeing the document that they've been 'trained' to accept.

Have hired cars many times in the US and elsewhere and never had any problems whatsoever. When I asked if they get many of the old paper types the last chap said -yes all the time but not as in good condition as yours. Could not be easier.

[4v6]

agtlaw said:

Completely wrong. The card is the DRIVING LICENCE. The paper part is the COUNTERPART DRIVING LICENCE.

Counterparts are due to be phased out by 2015.

The counterpart to what? The plastic one?

How so? Ive had the paper licence since the year dot, there wernt any plastic ones when I passed the test so the paper one IS the licence I was issued with.