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Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photo card driving licences expire

Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.

They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photo card licence which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70.

The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, just as the they start to expire.

Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life.

A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photo cards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b'

To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to a pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.

Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summ er, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.

With another 300,000 photo card licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine.

Check your driver's Licence - avoid a fine

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I got this in an e-mail today



Ive looked at my Photo licence and i cant find the words
expires on or anything like that but. . . . .

4a 22-02-00
4b 21-02-10
4c DVLA

All that i can see is that 4b is next year for me.
But does it mean i have to re-new my licence next year
well update my picture.

Can anyone confirm if there are any legs in it ?

Renewing a Photo Driving Licence
If your photo driving licence has expired, you can be fined up to £1000. It should be renewed every ten years, but if you fail to do so, it can result in your driving licence becoming invalid. You can choose to update your photo sooner than this if your appearance changes significantly. This can be done by filling in the DVLA's D1 application form, which you can get online, from the DVLA form ordering service or from certain Post Office branches. To check the status of your photo driving licence, the front of the card should show the expiry date of the photo. The DVLA will usually send a renewal application pack before the photo needs to be renewed. Renewing the photo is usually £17.50. Your new licence should be sent back to you within three weeks, although it may take longer than this if medical and personal details need to be verified. As long as you have previously held a UK driving licence and are not likely to have your renewal rejected for medical reasons, it should be fine for you to drive while you await your new licence.

Renewing a Driving Licence that has been Expired for Some Time
If more than two years has passed since your driving licence expired, you may be made to retake your driving test in order to get a new licence. This is especially the case if your licence has expired due to age (driving licences need to be renewed when you reach seventy) or medical reasons. For these, you may also have to pass a medical. In other cases, you can simply apply for a new licence without problem, although the DVLA will often want to know why your licence has been expired for so long.