Scooby Snacks 23

Don't know if this has bee circulated before but it's just frightened a few people at work. If you have a photocard licence, check the expiry date.

Copied from an email from a reliable source (my wife ) but gonna check the net separately too.


>>Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 becau
> > se
> > they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.
> >
> > They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small
> > print on
> > their photocard 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.
> >
> > Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said
> > 'most' drivers believed their licences were for life.
> >
> > They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that
> > new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set
> > period and have to be renewed.
> >
> > 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 ye
> > ars.
> >
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so
> > far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.
> >
> > With another 300,000 photocard 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.
> >
> > At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny
> > credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the
> > paper version.
> >
> > Just below the driver name on the front of the photocard licence is a
> > series of dates and details - each one numbered.
> >
> > Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation
> > as to what it means.
> >
> > The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the
> > card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means
> > 'licence
> > valid to'.
> >
> > Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets
> > out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence - that is
> > until
> > his or her 70th birthday.
> >
> > A total of 25million new-style licences have been issued but -
> > motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they
> > would expire after 10 years.
> >
> > Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to
> > continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with
> > 'failing
> > to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.
> >
> > AA president, Edmund King said: 'It is not generally known that
> > photocard licences expire: there appears to be a lack of information
> > that people will have to renew these licences.
> >
> > 'People think they have already paid them for once over and that is
> > it.
> >
> > 'It will come as a surprise to motorists and a shock that they have
> > to pay an extra £17.50.'
> >
> > The AA called on the Government to use the annual £450million from
> > traffic enforcement fines to offset the renewal charge.
> >
> > Before photocard licences were introduced, old-style paper licences
> > were valid until the age of 70.
> >
> > 'Many motorists still believe this to be the case with the new ones."
> >
> > Driving instructor Tony Carter, of Canterbury, said: 'It's outrageous;
> > everybody thinks their driving licence is for life.
> >
> > 'Why - when you have already paid £50 for your photocard licence -
> > should you pay the Government an extra £17.50 every 10 years?
> >
> > 'It's another stealth tax. Drivers will be very annoyed.'
> >
> > Today the DVLA said the date of expiry was carried on the new-style
> > licences, even though the AA says this is 'not clear'.
> >
> > The Agency was unable to say whether motorists were told the
> > licences would expire when they were first issued.
> >
> > It said it was issuing postal reminders to drivers whose photograph
> > was due to expire, to get the renewal message across. But a
> > spokesman admitted this was the limit of the DVLA's publicity.
> >
> > Experts say many drivers will slip through the net because DVLA
> > records are inaccurate and many motorists have changed address,
> > making it impossible to trace them.
> >
> > A DVLA spokesman said: 'Previous experience has shown that wide-
> > scale publicity is less effective and can generate enquiries and
> > concerns from those not affected. Instead, DVLA focussed on targeted
> > publicity to ensure that we got the message to the right person at
> > the right time.'
> >
> > The Driving Standards Agency is allowing L-test candidates with
> > out-of-date photocard licences to sit their driving tests as long as
> > they provide a valid passport. This concession will end in January
> > next
> > year, raising the prospect that some L-test candidates will be
> > turned away.
> >
> > The DVLA said no one had so far been charged with failing to
> > surrender a licence.

PeteBrant

What small print?

It says on the front of the license, when it is due from (4a), and when it expires (4b). And yes it's 10 years. But frankly you would have to be either a

(i)****ing idiot

or

(ii)Blind

Not to see it on the license or realise what it is in relation to.

Unless of course people are surprised that a picture taken when they are 17 might not be altogether accurate when they are 70.

oldsplice

I'm both then!

I didn't realise it had a 'best before' date either. And as for the photo........I've got a portrait in the loft, so I'll look the same when I'm 70 as I do now! (and no, I'm not 70 yet..........quite! )

Markus

Doesn't the DVLA send out a reminder that your licence is about to expire then? If not then it's very poor form on their part.

Also, and this is rather amusing, I'm looking at my Ontario Drivers Licence and it seems the various fields are very similar, by this I mean, 1 and 2 on the UK licence are last and first names, and the ODL is the same. Field 4b, which is the expiry field is also the same on mine, with the exception that they have put 4b EXP/EXP..

How difficult would it have been for them to do the same thing, adding three extra letters to the field. There is room on the card for it. Actually (the reason for the EXP/EXP is because it's dual language, English then French), they could have changed 4a to 4a ISS to indicate the issue date. Not exactly difficult is it.

Oh, and yes, the MTO (Ontario version of DVLA) did send me a reminder that my DL was going to expire in a few months and that I should renew it. It is somewhat more important over here, as you are legally required to carry your drivers licence when driving, if you're pulled over and don't have it you'll get fined, plus if it's expired and you're pulled over you'll get a fine of $350. No excuses are accepted for driving with an expired licence.