I read this morning that photocard driving licenses, which were introduced in 1998, will soon start expiring.  I was unaware that the time limit on a photocard license was different to that of a paper license and upon inspection couldn’t see that my photocard had an expiry date on it at all.  Several inspections later I spotted the date that I got my license, back in 2002, and therefore that it was due to expire in 2012 (just in time for the Olympics!).  This has presented me with a number of questions; why does my photocard expire thirty years before my driving license does?  And what are the implications for the photocard having expired? 

The only reason I’ve got a photocard is because I lost my original license and have had to replace it.  My original license didn’t come with a photocard and was due to run until 2042.  I assume that if I still had it then it would still be valid, so as the new license comes with both paper and photocard, does the expiry of the photocard invalidate the paper part (which is good until 2042), or is the paper section valid in it’s own right?

Seeking an answer to these conundrums I looked to the DVLA, wow how wrong can a guy be?  There is no section on their website offering answers to the queries of confused licence holders wondering why half of their license is about to become outdated.  There is a number that you can call, listed on the DVLA website, but on calling this number I was given a load of irrelevant options followed by a long wait with a message occasionally telling me that I’d have to wait at least another ten minutes (it did go down to seven at one point but then back up to twelve so my hopes were dashed).  With this I went back to the website for further investigation.

There doesn’t seem to be anything on the website that details what happens to your license if you haven’t renewed your photocard although it does say that if you fail to update your photocard every ten years, or update your address when you move, or update a change of name, then you could face a fine of up to £1000, yes a grand!  This all seems a little excessive for a clause that most people don’t even know existed, and especially so as it doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone.  There are also no details as to what will happen to ex-pats who are out of the country at the time that their photocard runs out.  So we'll have to wait and see how many people come back to the country to a big fine in their absence.

It costs £17.50 to update your photocard, which presumably isn’t payable if you got your license before 1998, but is if you got it, or a duplicate one afterwards.  I guess that’s just another of the governments stealth taxes and will have to be filed with speed cameras and parking fines.

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