Photocard Licence Renewal not done

[boyse7en]

Just been going through a pile of stuff in the lounge and discovered an old letter from DVLA, which when I opened it turned out to be a form to renew my Photocard licence.

Few questions now:

1) My photocard should have been renewed some months ago it turns out
2) Yes, I know I should be better organised
3) The form says I have to fill it in and send it off if "I WANT TO RENEW MY DRIVING LICENCE WITH A NEW PHOTO". I still look like me, so do I have to? It says if I want to, not that I have to or must do.
4) Do I actually still have a licence to drive, even though my Photo Card has expired?

[marshalla]

Advice given elsewhere is that there is a non-endorsable fine payable for not surrendering an out of date photocard, but that the licence remains valid until the expiry dates defined in the RTA.

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/blog/entry/legislation-...

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/sectio...

[vonhosen]

You still have a licence to drive, so you aren't committing the offence of driving other than in accordance with a licence, but you are committing the specific offence of not renewing your photo licence everyday you haven't done it whether you are driving or not.

[TooMany2cvs]

boyse7en said:

3) The form says I have to fill it in and send it off if "I WANT TO RENEW MY DRIVING LICENCE WITH A NEW PHOTO". I still look like me, so do I have to? It says if I want to, not that I have to or must do.

Yes, you do. Your driving licence has expired.

boyse7en said:

4) Do I actually still have a licence to drive, even though my Photo Card has expired?

Yes, you would be driving in accordance with your licence, although your licence itself has expired.

It's £14 every decade. £1.40/year. 2.7p/week...

[marshalla]

TooMany2cvs said:

boyse7en said:

3) The form says I have to fill it in and send it off if "I WANT TO RENEW MY DRIVING LICENCE WITH A NEW PHOTO". I still look like me, so do I have to? It says if I want to, not that I have to or must do.

Yes, you do. Your driving licence has expired.

No. It hasn't.

TooMany2cvs said:

boyse7en said:

4) Do I actually still have a licence to drive, even though my Photo Card has expired?

Yes, you would be driving in accordance with your licence, although your licence itself has expired.

It's £14 every decade. £1.40/year. 2.7p/week...

Yes, he would - but it hasn't.

[TooMany2cvs]

marshalla said:

TooMany2cvs said:

boyse7en said:

3) The form says I have to fill it in and send it off if "I WANT TO RENEW MY DRIVING LICENCE WITH A NEW PHOTO". I still look like me, so do I have to? It says if I want to, not that I have to or must do.

Yes, you do. Your driving licence has expired.

No. It hasn't.

TooMany2cvs said:

boyse7en said:

4) Do I actually still have a licence to drive, even though my Photo Card has expired?

Yes, you would be driving in accordance with your licence, although your licence itself has expired.

It's £14 every decade. £1.40/year. 2.7p/week...

Yes, he would - but it hasn't.

So what's the point of the expiry date on a licence, then?

[Retroman]

I think my photocard expired about 5-6 years ago now.
I've been pulled over by the police a few times during that time and no fines for out of date photocard yet so i wouldn't worry too much.

I'll get it done shortly for sure though.

[wolves_wanderer]

TooMany2cvs said:

So what's the point of the expiry date on a licence, then?

The date on the front is the expiry of the photograph, the expiry of your driving entitlements are listed on the back.

[marshalla]

TooMany2cvs said:

So what's the point of the expiry date on a licence, then?

The one on the front is the expiry date of the photo.
The ones on the back are the expiry dates of the licence entitlements.

The legislation is quite clear that the licence expires on the 70th birthday (for cars etc.), not when the photo is deemed out of date. Presumably, the belief is that appearance can change significantly over a 10 year period so renewal of the photo is required.

ETA - and being really pedantic the licence is not the physical object, it's the permission granted. The card thing is just a representation of a claim of the existence of that permission

Edited by marshalla on Thursday 4th February 12:08

[Jimmyarm]

I discovered mine had expired a couple of months back when I went to hire a van.

it was only a week or two but meant I couldn't drive it.

if you have a current passport you can do it all online, I had a new license within a few days.

[R0G]

out of date photo = invalid driving licence but not invalid entitlements to drive