Renewing Your Photo Driving Licence every 10 years
If you didn`t know that you need to renew your photo card driving licence after 10 years, then you may well be one of the 40,000 drivers across the UK who are breaking the law-many of whom are doing so unwittingly.Many motorists believe that their photo card licence-like the old style green paper licences-are valid right up until they turn 70 years of age. In actual fact they expire after a 10 year period. The reason this has come to light recently is because the photo cards were first introduced in 1998, and so 2008 saw the first ten year expiry dates come up and catch thousands of drivers out. Since July 2008, around 170,000 UK licences have expired and by the end of January 2009, more than a quarter of those motorists who are due to renew their licences with the DVLA, hadn`t done so.
Qualified drivers are still entitled to drive a vehicle if their photo card licence has expired, but what they must be aware of is that they could be charged with the offence of failing to renew their photo card licence. If the matter went to court you could end up with a £1000 fine.
Implications on your vehicle insurance if you are fully comprehensive
You may find that if your photo card licence has expired, then your insurance company will refuse to pay up for any claims you make. If this happens, you will be able to appeal, and if your photo card licence is being processed (i.e. you’ve actually applied for renewal) you will usually be ok. However this decision will be down to the insurance company themselves and what their individual policies are for this type of situation. However if you were involved in an accident you will still be covered for third party claims, regardless of whether your photo card licence was still in date.
A check with the Force insurers has confirmed that the insurance cover provided to all police staff whilst driving police vehicles under such circumstances would not be effected.
Please take the time to check the expiry date of your photo card driving licence, and if it is out of date renew it now to avoid inadvertently falling foul of the law and potentially jeopardising the status of your personal vehicle insurance!!
Your expiry date is to be found at section 4b on the front of the photo card licence.
DVLA should send you out a renewal pack a couple of months before the expiry of you photo card licence-so if they do, complete it and send it off to DVLA. Be careful not to disregard or discard this as `junk` mail. If you don`t receive a renewal pack, get a D1 form from the post office or from the DVLA online form ordering services.
To renew the photo card licence will cost you £20.
