Driving Licence Renewal

[muskrat]

Well my driving licence expires in a few weeks so I went online to renew it. I found the Gov.uk driving licence section and clicked through to a whole bunch of questions about me, my current licence, my passport number (a quick frantic dash to find my passport), what I had for breakfast last Tuesday fortnight, and presto I was done!
As directed I cut my existing licence in two and popped it in the post to DVLA Swansea.

It wasn't until I got back from posting the letter that I thought; "Hmm.. No charge?" So I checked my email and sure enough I had successfully requested that a licence be issued WITH A REPLACEMENT PHOTO !!! Not a renewal at all. DOH!

So I searched the site and tried to phone them a couple of times. Each time it just said - We're very busy, please try later. Thanks. Goodbye. <CLICK> and hung up.

So I searched the site again and found the email option. I followed the various prompts; "Is your enquiry about a, b or c? - Is it about x, y or z? and so on until it finally asked me for my email address and name. Then it came up "Thank you for your enquiry." ... Huh? I haven't had a chance to tell you what I want yet! DOH! again.

So I give up. DVLA is far too big a behemoth for me to try to rectify a simple mistake in a hurry. I will wait the couple of weeks until my new (replaced photo but still expires in a couple of weeks) licence arrives in the post. Then I will go back online and see if I can request a proper renewal with a longer expiry date (and pay the £14 for the privilege).

Progress it certainly is not.

 

[matti]

My dad suffers from the early stages of Parkinsons, and has to renew his licence every six months, during covid,the dvla basically turned round and said, ah, dont worry about it, and let him carry on driving,

 

[John Step]

I have just done mine online. Over 70 one gets badgered to renew every 3 years. The funny thing is it is not due until the end of November.
The reminder is rather early but never mind I have a new licence which took only 5days to come.
Who said they are short staffed and overworked???

 

[160642fishing]

Mine came inside five days and they didn't ask for a new photo.

 

[TrickyD]

Mine isn't due for renewal for about 15 years, unless I move. Don't have a photo licence, just the old pink paper one.

 

[mickthechippy]

I too still have a pink paper one

last time it saw the light of day was too send it off for three points to be added to it ( 5.30 on a sunday morn doing 39mph in a 30 zone, going fishing, roads were empty)

I ought to dig it out now and see when it runs out,

 

[TrickyD]

I ought to dig it out now and see when it runs out,

When you turn 70, just checked mine.

 

[mickthechippy]

When you turn 70, just checked mine.

Ta

 

[tipitinmick]

Mine isn't due for renewal for about 15 years, unless I move. Don't have a photo licence, just the old pink paper one.

You still got the original Tricky as the photo ones have to be renewed every 10 choose what don’t they ? . I only learnt this one night while watching police interceptors. They had pulled a woman over and told her that her license had run out. It was one of the plastic ones. I checked and lo and behold mine had ….. by about three years.

 

[warrington63]

When you turn 70, just checked mine.

Mine runs out next February when I am 68.
I changed from a paper one to photo one in 2012 so I presume it is on a 10 year renewal for some reason.
May phone up/email to find out why it's renewable when I am 68.

 

[muskrat]

Mine runs out next February when I am 68.
I changed from a paper one to photo one in 2012 so I presume it is on a 10 year renewal for some reason.
May phone up/email to find out why it's renewable when I am 68.

It's so they can get £14 quid extra out of you every ten years.

 

[Total]

You still got the original Tricky as the photo ones have to be renewed every 10 choose what don’t they ? . I only learnt this one night while watching police interceptors. They had pulled a woman over and told her that her license had run out. It was one of the plastic ones. I checked and lo and behold mine had ….. by about three years.

They gave you a drivers license?

 

[TrickyD]

Mine runs out next February when I am 68.
I changed from a paper one to photo one in 2012 so I presume it is on a 10 year renewal for some reason.
May phone up/email to find out why it's renewable when I am 68.

Photo ones have to be updated every 10 years, or any time you change details on it.

 

[tipitinmick]

They gave you a drivers license?

Mine came free in a box of corn flakes.

Joking aside Mark …. My grandad was given one just after the war. I asked him once what was his driving test like ? He said …. We had to drive 100 yards forward, stop, then had to reverse the 100 yards back and that was it. I kid you not. He never had an accident in all his driving life. Caused hundreds but, never had one himself.

 

[warrington63]

Photo ones have to be updated every 10 years, or any time you change details on it.

Went from paper to photo in 2012 ,so like you say renew next year even though not 70.
Only details that got changed was 2 years ago when I changed my address.

 

[emmaemma]

I got a plastic one many moons ago as I have to show photo ID when entering construction sites/ inductions etc. It's easier than carrying a passport around.

 

[Len Wade]

Having been driving for over 50 years, my licence expired in August 2020 ( I'm over 70) but renewal got deferred because of the Covid issue. I re-applied on-line in July this year (like a good citizen) and ticked all the boxes but some robot kept telling me that my application was"Invalid and cannot be processed."
After three attempts on-line I thought "To hell with this" and sent off for the paper forms, which arrived surprisingly promptly.
I filled them in with exactly the same details I had entered on-line and sent them off to the DVLA. That was six weeks ago and I'm still waiting for a reply (or a licence) but until then, I'll just keep on trucking......
(If I ever get stopped by Norfolk's Finest I think a perfectly adequate response would be "It's in the post, Officer.")

 

[tonerain]

Having been driving for over 50 years, my licence expired in August 2020 ( I'm over 70) but renewal got deferred because of the Covid issue. I re-applied on-line in July this year (like a good citizen) and ticked all the boxes but some robot kept telling me that my application was"Invalid and cannot be processed."
After three attempts on-line I thought "To hell with this" and sent off for the paper forms, which arrived surprisingly promptly.
I filled them in with exactly the same details I had entered on-line and sent them off to the DVLA. That was six weeks ago and I'm still waiting for a reply (or a licence) but until then, I'll just keep on trucking......
(If I ever get stopped by Norfolk's Finest I think a perfectly adequate response would be "It's in the post, Officer.")

I turned 70 in March of this year and received a renewal form in December 2000.
There was a section on the form to declare health issues, so I told 'em I had MS.
Nine months later I'm still waiting for my license. The website says my application is "in progress"

As others have said, you can't phone 'em - they don't answer and eventually hang up on you.

I learned recently that the staff went on strike about the Covid protection measures the employer put in place.
Having worked for the local council for 2 years that reinforced my opinion that the staff viewed the industrial action as additional holidays.

 

[muskrat]

Well I take it all back. Replacement licence arrived yesterday and the expiry date has been updated too. It is valid for another 6 years until I'm 70.
I can only assume that either replacements with less than 10 years to run are free, or they made a boo boo.

 

[grey]

I know you're supposed to cut your card and return the halves to DVLA immediately (and sign a declaration to say you have done so) when applying for a renewal online; but personally, I would keep my old driving licence and only return it once the new one arrives - especially during the current chaos the DVLA is experiencing.