DVLA nearly over 70 renewing licence

[thirdcrank]

Man tells police he drove without licence for 52 years

A man stunned police officers in Nottinghamshire when he told them he had driven without a licence for 52 years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-n ... e-60673923

A member of the public in Leeds was surprised Nottinghamshire Police took to social media to publicise this.............

[thirdcrank]

This is spreading, but is it the tip of an iceberg? Here's one in Staffordshire, an not exactly low profile

Man admits driving without licence for 50 years

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-s ... e-60985571

[Mick F]

Mrs Mick F is in The Gambia doing charity work ......... long story, and I'm at home alone with three cats, a parrot and a dog, and now looking after a hamster and a budgie too!

Mrs Mick F and me chat on the phone via FaceBook Messenger once or twice a day, and she told me that the driver of the truck they where transporting some of the charity stuff on, was stopped by the police and his driving licence had expired the day before.

No more info on that, other than the vehicle was impounded!

[philvantwo]

My Mrs has to submit her licence details every year to a 3rd party firm who check its all in order.
Like normal I had to do it for her, wouldn't accept it and after trying twice I got her licence out of the safe.........turns out it expired last October! Looked at mine and it ran out in February! Renewed mine online and it arrived 4 days later.
Couldn't renew hers online so had to get a new photo as her identity couldn't be verified.
Meanwhile she had an email from HR at her work querying her about her driving licence so she went to she her manager, turns out he got stopped by the police in January and his licence was out of date by 12 months, copper told him to get it renewed ASAP.
DVLA say they send reminders out but we never had one, yet the road fund licence reminder turned up

[thirdcrank]

This is just an update for over-70 driving licence renewal without a passport. In short, they appear to have made permanent the temporary arrangements introduced during lockdown etc and clarified the applications.

Ninety days before her 76th birthday, passportless mrs thirdcrank recently received by post the renewal form. Written application is the only way to preserve things like minibus entitlements; although she passed some sort of minibus test in her nursing days, that's no longer needed and I doubt she bothered keeping it at the previous two renewals.

She's not into IT (understatement) and her inclination would have been a paper application, but I was concerned posting it to Swansea was vulnerable to industrial action and we "agreed" she would apply online. NB The applicant must do this personally, although I don't know how they can tell.

With my close supervision and with nothing to complicate things, it went smoothly. In particular, the page which used to be headed with a large notice saying you couldn't go further without a passport and a small lockdown-related amendment saying over 70s could ignore that, now has a prominent heading saying over 70s don't need a passport (with exceptions.)

There's also a facility to check online the progress of an application and that showed "issued" the morning after the application was submitted. With the current postal strikes, it's anyone's guess when it will arrive but it's "in the post"

[rjb]

I haven't seen a "it's in the post" notice since they abolished the requirement to display a road tax disc.

[thirdcrank]

I haven't seen a "it's in the post" notice since they abolished the requirement to display a road tax disc. :lol:

I was indeed alluding to the once-standard excuse for an untaxed vehicle. The big differences here are that it's Swansea's explanation, not ours, and more to the point, in the unfortunate event that the police need to check her entitlement to drive, the DVLA database will show her licence status as "issued." Hopefully, that won't be tested.
=====================================================================
PS Another point is that a paper application has to include the return of the expiring licence, while the online application includes an undertaking to do so. Bearing in mind that there's the current postal strike, returning the old one may be impossible for a little while

[al_yrpal]

After a year of faffing about my wife had to get her MP to sort her driving licence. 3 weeks later it came. DVLC - useless!

Al

[gbnz]

sort her driving licence. 3 weeks later it came. DVLC - useless!

Did she apply to the DVLC? I've always understood that it was the DVLA which dealt with such issues?

[thirdcrank]

After a year of faffing about my wife had to get her MP to sort her driving licence. 3 weeks later it came. DVLC - useless!

Al

Apart from anything else, I presume from what I remember of your posts that her application included a change of name on marriage and a change of address. These are presumably changes which require some form of verification by a human being and so, vulnerable to industrial action or covid-related precautions. On top of a reputation for inefficiency, particularly at the former DVLC

[horizon]

Personally, when I turn 70, I want it completely seamless. Same license, same entitlement, same everything.

You'll probably be disappointed as you are most likely to end up with a UK licence.

[Paulatic]

This is just an update for over-70 driving licence renewal without a passport. In short, they appear to have made permanent the temporary arrangements introduced during lockdown etc and clarified the applications.

Thanks for that confirmation TC it is exactly the same as my experience earlier in the year I’ve never had a passport. I think I got my new licence within a week. BiL recently swears blind it wasn’t there and his passport was out of date. Suffering with pneumonia he chased around North Lincolnshire renewing his passport and no end of agro to renew his licence.

[al_yrpal]

After a year of faffing about my wife had to get her MP to sort her driving licence. 3 weeks later it came. DVLC - useless!

Al

Apart from anything else, I presume from what I remember of your posts that her application included a change of name on marriage and a change of address. These are presumably changes which require some form of verification by a human being and so, vulnerable to industrial action or covid-related precautions. On top of a reputation for inefficiency, particularly at the former DVLC

TC, she hasnt changed her surname for official purposes we both reckon its too much hassle but, we did change address.

Anyway our MP got it sorted pretty quickly.

Al

[thirdcrank]

After a year of faffing about my wife had to get her MP to sort her driving licence. 3 weeks later it came. DVLC - useless!

Al

Apart from anything else, I presume from what I remember of your posts that her application included a change of name on marriage and a change of address. These are presumably changes which require some form of verification by a human being and so, vulnerable to industrial action or covid-related precautions. On top of a reputation for inefficiency, particularly at the former DVLC

TC, she hasnt changed her surname for official purposes we both reckon its too much hassle but, we did change address.

Anyway our MP got it sorted pretty quickly.

Al

What I was trying to say was any of the listed changes would prevent an immediate online renewal of the type I described. I guessed at a couple and you confirmed there was one. And I presume that means some sort of human intervention at the DVLA.. I presume the extent of the delays affecting an individual application must depend on different causes. Simple things like a documented address change will only depend on the rate at which somebody can check the documents and enter them into the computer system. Medical conditions seem likely to involve much more cautious resolution. eg Deciding whether somebody with deteriorating health should continue to drive isn't just a civil liberties issue.

AFAIK, MPs or rather their offices, have always had a special postcode for their Swansea correspondence, which ensures it goes to the top of the pile. ie Writing to your MP will jump the queue. And fair enough. Apart from that, I suppose the level of complaints gives them a "tip of the iceberg" idea of the problems. Industrial action probably adds another layer of complication.

Overall, the emergency simplifications introduced during lockdown seem to have been formalised.

[squeaker]

Overall, the emergency simplifications introduced during lockdown seem to have been formalised.

Thanks for the update TC: even less reason to renew our soon to expire passports, though