please empty your brain below
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Now I know why, apart from being too lazy, Q hasn't changed his UK driving license to an EU one, despite having been asked to several times.
He still gets away with pulling out his old license that is valid until 2038. He just grins when asked and plays the village idiot, much to his advantage.
zed | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 8:04 a.m. | #
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So you've done all that (oh, and after £20, what's an extra £5 or so for *trackable* Special Delivery to reduce the has-it-got-lost delivery nervousness?).
Well, should your licence be wanted by the people in blue, it's not enough to proffer the photocard. It's not a valid licence without the paper 'counterpart' too. So, an expensive limited-life piece of plastic that doesn't actually do what it should. Progress, eh?
Gordon | 15.06.09 - 8:17 a.m. | #
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.."wasting huge amounts of money on not-quite-acceptable attempts"..
I have never had problems using photos from the photo machine booths. Many of them allow you to accept or reject a preview of the photo before printing.
The Wimbledon DVLA is easy to get to it is just around the corner from the station.
dg writes: Open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. So, no matter how near the station it is, no use to me.
John | 15.06.09 - 8:30 a.m. | #
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Unless you've aged noticeably in the past few years, who's going to know how old your photo is? I recently renewed my passport with photos that were over 2 years old.
Sir Garence | 15.06.09 - 8:59 a.m. | #
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If you think it's a long time since you had to write a cheque, how long is it since you even saw a postal order, let alone buy one.
Kennamatic | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 9:20 a.m. | #
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I do find it bizarre that you still need the paper component. Our DLs back in Ontario have been one card since about the time they were introduced over here. But then they expire every *five* years, so it's not all rosy. Lots of fun to renew when you live across the ocean.(They're considerably prettier, at least)
Chz | 15.06.09 - 9:45 a.m. | #
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Normally you are very diligent in uploading your photos to Flickr - but you haven't posted a link to the passport photo . . . .
Ian | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 10:02 a.m. | #
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Thanks for this post DG. I moved in 2004 and was "updated" to the photo licence. I've just checked the expiry and it's in Jan 2010 whch gives me just 2 and a half years! 10 years feels like a rip off, this feels like daylight robbery!
Christian | 15.06.09 - 10:12 a.m. | #
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Well, should your licence be wanted by the people in blue, it's not enough to proffer the photocard.
In practice normally that is quite adequate although the relevant act does require both parts to be produced. Why should the police care ? Once they have your name they can look up the details anyway.
I do find it bizarre that you still need the paper component.
I think it is simply a case of that the Road Traffic Act was passed in 1988 before police had instant access to the DVLA computer and nobody has bothered to update the relevant law.
Of course if you are required to surrender and not merely produce the licence that would be different.
Pedantic of Purley | 15.06.09 - 10:20 a.m. | #
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I find it strange that changing your address (which requires sending off your card and paper counterpart licence for a shiny new one) doesn't have any charge from the DVLA, but changing the photo does. Surely the process of scanning a photo doesn't cost them £20?
Sounds like someone's making a profit here.
Incidentally, photo booths usually have an address on them for refunds. If you're not happy with the snaps, send them back, and you'll get a postal order for the cost of the pics plus a first class stamp, and presumably your photos stuck on their wall to be laughed at.
Martin | 15.06.09 - 10:27 a.m. | #
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At least you haven't had to start going for the 10 yearly medical that you would after 40ish in other EU countries.
Pamela | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 10:33 a.m. | #
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At least you haven't had to start going for the 10 yearly medical that you would after 40ish in other EU countries.
If you are a lorry or bus/coach driver you need a medical every five years and annually after the age of 65. Only car drivers get away without one.
I find it strange that changing your address (which requires sending off your card and paper counterpart licence for a shiny new one) doesn't have any charge from the DVLA, but changing the photo does.
But if you need a new photocard they know where you live and so can issue a summons if caught driving on an out-of-date licence.
Because they like to know your address they don't want to penalise you for keeping them informed of your current one.
Pedantic of Purley | 15.06.09 - 10:39 a.m. | #
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True for us 'amateurs' i.e. holding a car or motorbike licence. Professional drivers of buses, lorries, cabs(?) who have a different category of licence do need regular 5 or 10-year medicals I understand.
Mind you, some 'amateurs' clock up just as many miles as the pros if, say, they do delivery work in white vans - some inequality there, perhaps?
Gordon | 15.06.09 - 10:41 a.m. | #
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Should have gone to your local post office, DG. They would have taken your photo there - all passport-and-driving-licence-kosher.
Exit, pursued by a bear | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 12:29 p.m. | #
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Which is why when I moved twelve years ago I (sssh...) never sent off my old pink piece of paper. I was suspicious about ID cards-by-the-back-door even then, and I'm very glad I didn't. My driving licence is about demonstrating that I passed a driving test, not about proving who I am. It's clear from these new draconian requirements that it *is* an ID card by any other name, and yet the standard of ID required (getting the photo endorsed by an upstanding member of the community)to get it in the first place is risible.
Sarah | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 1:01 p.m. | #
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Unfortunately the law's not on your side, Sarah - not telling the DVLA your new address could get you a £1000 fine.
martin | 15.06.09 - 2:04 p.m. | #
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I read a defence of the photo/paper licence duality was that Britain had no central database of convictions, so needed the paper to record them.
Matthew | 15.06.09 - 2:31 p.m. | #
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... and, apparently, it only gets worse once you get to seventy.
It's at that age that you become required to renew your licence every three years. With, of course, more fees and costs to fork out for, every time.
... as if old folks don't have enough burdens on their pensions, as things are.
Hmmm... looks like the logic there - as always - seems to be "Ah, well, if they've got the money to run a car, they can afford to pay this as well"
RogerW | 15.06.09 - 3:35 p.m. | #
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[... and - following Pedantic's theme (of being pedantic) - it's actually two of the London DVLA offices which aren't in London]
RogerW | 15.06.09 - 3:40 p.m. | #
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Actually being pedantic (and repetitive) it is back to the old question of "What do you mean by London ?". Clearly DG reckons we are talking administrative districts i.e. London Borough or City of London. Royal Mail has dodged the issue entirely by not requiring county name on addresses as it caused too much confusion. A lot of people still use the "old" boundaries and refer to the boundaries before the creation of the GLC. But why stop arbitarily there ? Why not use the really old boundaries so that the Surrey Oval and the Surrey Docks are both actually in Surrey ? Then virtually nothing is really in London unless it is in the very centre.
DG is at least consistent and I for one think that this is the preferable usage in this day and age.
Pedantic of Purley, London.
Pedantic of Purley | 15.06.09 - 4:49 p.m. | #
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But how will they know I've moved, if I don't tell them?
Sarah | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 5:03 p.m. | #
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Actually, I did inform them of my change of address - I just declined to send off for a photocard licence. At the time, they told me that this 'might cause problems' if I had to produce my licence; not that it was absolutely required by law. So as I informed them, technically I think I am in the clear.
Sarah | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 5:21 p.m. | #
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Ah, the memories. This brings back the hassle of renewing my Aussie passport. Same daft requirements about image size. (I took a self-portrait with a camera on timed release and scaled the image.) And also the requirement to be vetted by an upstanding Australian. As if someone like me is going to know any upstanding Australians. At long last and many dollars later, I'm talking to the consular official who continues dubious. I've been an expat so long, she wants to know what makes me think I'm an Australian.
"Well, I still eat Vegemite," I pointed out.
The new passport arrived two weeks later.
quixote | Homepage | 15.06.09 - 5:24 p.m. | #
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DG, I can't believe you think its expensive: in Victoria, Australia, a 3 year licence costs $45.30 and a 10 year one 10 years $154.00...
All photography is digital though; you just have to show up and it's done on the spot at your local chemist...
EP
EskimoPie | 15.06.09 - 8:48 p.m. | #
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I just had to renew my license in the US. I waited for an hour and a half, took an eye exam and then gave them $40.00. At least you get the photo taken there. It's good for 5 years. You can even renew online every other time.
katy | 15.06.09 - 10:04 p.m. | #
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A question arises from DG's post and two of the comments above: If you mail in half of the two-part licence and await the return of the new one, are you allowed to drive in the interim?
dg interjects: You have to send both parts.
And yes, you're allowed to drive in the interim.
@Chz although Ontario went to a single card licence, we lost the organ/body donation tick-box that was printed on the old paper portion of the licence in the transition. Although it is still issued as a separate paper portion each time that you renew your licence, that requires carrying two pieces rather than one if you are agreeable. Organ donations in the province have dropped, and I blame it -- at least partially, on this.
Because the renewal process is longstanding here, there are a plethera of MTO (Ministry of Transportation of Ontario)branch offices that service all areas of vehicle licencing -- testing, photos, licence plates, vehicle transfers etc.
From where I live in Toronto, I can think of three that I can walk to within a one mile radius.
Oliver | 16.06.09 - 5:44 a.m. | #
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So, hassle all round.
ID cards, anyone?
Gordon | 16.06.09 - 9:00 a.m. | #
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When I reapplied I accidentally got some B&W photos done first. Mortified when I saw they had to be in colour, which meant another £5 and another 3 hour round trip to the booth.
Words have no way to describe the ire I felt when the licence came back with my colour photo printed on the front, now converted to B&W!!!
Rhys | Homepage | 16.06.09 - 1:39 p.m. | #
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i'm sure you'll have no trouble looking natural
tristan forward | Homepage | 27.06.09 - 1:54 p.m. | #
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