S2C Forum Archives
Main Section => Welcome to our virtual Pub Meeting ... => Topic started by: Dopey on January 13, 2021, 03:10:07 PM
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I just got my UK licence, and it has the Union Jack on it...
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I just got my UK licence, and it has the Union Jack on it...
So did the UK/EU one
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I just got my UK licence, and it has the Union Jack on it...
So did the old UK one, or at least since 2016 when mine was last renewed.
Shown here with another licence renewed in 2014, no Union Jack!
(http://www.rms1.co.uk/landy/temp/lic.jpg)
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No Union flag on my licence (issued 1997).
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Mine from 2010 and the renewal in 2020 both have union flags on.
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My one from 1967 had crown and Great Britain on the front.
Alec
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My one from 1967 had crown and Great Britain on the front.
Alec
Those were the days :whistle
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Alec I had one older than yours..... mine was 1966. Must go looking for it. :-*
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My 1968 license is newer .... :neener
(http://www.series2club.co.uk/gallery/technical/images/my_driving_licence.jpg)
Soon going to have to trade in my paper license for one of those plastic card things.
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When I still had my paper one, I was pulled over one day for a routine check. In the car was an older Officer and a rookie. The youngster asked for my licence. I gave him this very frail, thin, and battered piece of paper. I said be careful its a family heirloom. He treated it like he was examinang a Rembrandt. Very respectful, but I did chuckle afterwards, hope he didnt tell his boss.
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Hi,
Didn't this forum, at one time, put our individual national flags alongside our avatar? I got the Welsh Dragon ....
or maybe it was the DIFFLOCK forum?
Thinks ... I don't recollect seeing the Cornish flag recently.
602
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The flags are still there at my discretion .... :first
(http://www.series2club.co.uk/new_forum/Smileys/flags/cornwall.gif)
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Has anyone mentioned the top left UK symbol has changed in your most recent licence, no more stars around it.
I'll be keeping my EU license, passport, number plates as long as I can, I was born European and still consider myself European.
Craig.
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:stars
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Soon going to have to trade in my paper license for one of those plastic card things.
Same here.
Shall have to remember to ask to retain my pre-1997 rights as well, or the new one will come back as a bare category B and that will not do as I pull a >3.5 tonne GTW combination plus occasionally drive a 7.5 tonner. [actually it is a 6 point something tonne but it puts me into the modern LGV category]
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Replacement licenses should come with all the same categories ticked.
My father changed his recently and I asked him to check at the time, it did have everything on it but worth checking it before you go out just to convince yourself it's correct.
Craig.
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Plastic licence for me soon >:D
My 1997 paper licence would have had to be renewed at 2007, 2017 had it been plastic >:D
My little red book cost £1 per year to renew. In 1975, they charged £5 for a licence - we were told - would last for life. Bit disingenuous ...
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Hi Tim,
Last for life? Sort of true ...
Your physical licence will (normally) last until the day before your 70th birthday (subject to some medical restrictions, which require a declaration, or medical, at differing periods ... 12 months, 5 years, or WHY. But "licence" (I think) also includes "permission". You are "permitted" to drive after your licence expires, subject to a fairly minor infringement of "driving without a licence". Fairly minor? How many Penalty Points for driving without a licence? Driving while disqualified by a Court of Law, is a different ball-game .... for starters, your insurance will be void. I understand that an Appeal Court ruled that being "debarred" from driving on medical grounds, is not the same as "disqualification" ... but you must have held a licence at some time, else your insurance WILL be void.
It's about 35 years since I retired, so things may have changed, but in my day, any changes that HAD TO BE DECLARED were free. That would be a change of address, a woman changing her name due to marriage, etc. If any of what I have said affects you, please make your own enqiries.
Voluntary changes incurred a fee. I think that included a Test Pass, and renewal after a period of disqualification (possibly implying you need a NEW licence), and removal of penalty points. Ouch! I think if you can synchronise several changes, and one of those changes is free, then they should all be free, if done at the same time. But please don't quote me on that ... the "bean counters" may have been at work since I retired.
I would have expected the official policy to be documented somewhere. ???. Ask before applying!
602
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You said no changes, but don't the over 70 versions have bits chopped off.
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^^^^
Apparently they do - :thud
What a load of red tape - this is a service that WE pay for. They must know from their records what tests have been passed and when and what entitlements you have - if not they need sacking.
Then when you hit 70 why not just issue a new license with the entitlements and categories you had when you were 69 years and 364 days old ???
It's a totally bonkers system which is set (deliberately ?) to catch the unwary out >:(
:snowman-1
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When I got to 55, I had to take a medical every 5 years to keep my HGV (now LGV) and I am a diabetic (type 2) so it's under constant review and can be taken away at any time, but my doctor
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Replacement licenses should come with all the same categories ticked.
My father changed his recently and I asked him to check at the time, it did have everything on it but worth checking it before you go out just to convince yourself it's correct.
Craig.
Craig is right - it is vital to check. I know of one case of a UK Police Traffic Officer who updated his licence and found that he had lost certain rights which limited his ability to do his job (trailer rights etc.) Hopefully it was a one off isolated case, but DVLA refused to reissue his licence with his original rights because he couldn't prove what was on his submitted licence. Even with a letter from the senior management he couldn't get it re-issued. Luckily he found a photocopy of his licence and along with the threat of legal action managed to get it changed. Moral of the story - even with the fact that DVLA must clearly have proof of what was on your original licence, its a very sensible idea to keep a clear high quality of copy. If the boys in blue have problems, what about us lesser mortals?
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Craig is right - it is vital to check. Moral of the story - even with the fact that DVLA must clearly have proof of what was on your original licence, its a very sensible idea to keep a clear high quality of copy. If the boys in blue have problems, what about us lesser mortals?
:-\
It is a very sensible idea to keep a clear high quality copy/scan of your licence before you send it in.
:plod
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You can check it on-line, last time I checked I still had my motor bike entitlement - but I haven't ridden one since 1986!
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Gear shifter, you'll need to retain your C1 entitlement and for that you'll have to have a medical.
You should still be able to drive B1, B, B+E, and agricultural vehicles.
If you have motor cycle entitlement make sure it's included. People haven't bothered to check the placcy licence and have lost various categories and have been told that they must take a test to regain them.
I can drive B+E up to a maximum train weight of 7 ton and my motor cycle entitlement, group A was retained.
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I renewed mine last June when I turned 70. My first plastic licence. I have lost the 7.5 ton part. I can get it back if I have a medical.
Peter
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A 73 year old drinking buddy lost his motorcycle entitlement when he renewed in the December he was 70.
Never thought to check until trying to sign up for some charity or show effort [do not know the exact details, but something he did a couple of times each summer] on a borrowed bike the following summer.
He was told there was now no record of his previous groups entitlements and he would have to go through the modern multi-stag process to renew them.
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That "keep a good copy" advice is the best. Perhaps a copy of your card AND a screenshot from their own site...
I wonder what other countries do ?
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I'm told the DVLA believe their computer, and do not accept any photocopies of the original licence.
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The DVLC/A have been "accidentally" losing Motorcycle Entitlement off Driving Licences consistently for over 33 years to my certain knowledge.
I used to be a Volunteer Instructor at a SACU Approved Training Centre, that had been running since the late 1940s.
A regular admin task was digging back into the archive to provide proof for people trying to get their motorcycle entitlement back onto their license.
Sometimes we were successful in assisting.
I got Ann (a neighbour) her entitlement back, that "Fell Off" her license when she did a change of address in 1992.
She passed her test through the centre in 1969 on her scooter. (she had no intention of ever riding a two wheeler again but is rather stubbornly determined).
A Serving Traffic Police Officer was not so lucky and had to hurriedly resit his test.
The DVLC/A would only accept a copy of a Driving Licence if it was a properly Notarised Copy.
I.E. a copy certified by a Notary Public.
Even then they would try and push back.
You are just wasting your time doing a photocopy or screenshot.
Get a Notarised Copy made.
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I'm told the DVLA believe their computer, and do not accept any photocopies of the original licence.
That would be fun to see defended in Court, their website is certainly very inaccurate, often seriously over-simplifies complex questions - taken at face value none of us should be using our Landrovers to tow because we dont have towing weights on our VIN plate..... of course, our vehicles pre-date VIN plates.
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I must admit, I don't send in my old licences when renewing - I tick the "Lost" box :whistle
That way I have proof in hand of my entitlements in case they screw up.
(Should I be admitting this on an open forum :agh)
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Check your driving licence HERE (https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence)
:-\
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Craig is right - it is vital to check. I know of one case of a UK Police Traffic Officer who updated his licence and found that he had lost certain rights which limited his ability to do his job (trailer rights etc.) Hopefully it was a one off isolated case, but DVLA refused to reissue his licence with his original rights because he couldn't prove what was on his submitted licence. Even with a letter from the senior management he couldn't get it re-issued. Luckily he found a photocopy of his licence and along with the threat of legal action managed to get it changed. Moral of the story - even with the fact that DVLA must clearly have proof of what was on your original licence, its a very sensible idea to keep a clear high quality of copy. If the boys in blue have problems, what about us lesser mortals?
Every 6 months as a driver my company have to by law (I think) take a copy of my licence, and I think for insurance as well, make sure you don't have points, but how you do that now when it's just a card? I don't know
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The DVLC/A have been "accidentally" losing Motorcycle Entitlement off Driving Licences consistently for over 33 years to my certain knowledgr
That's why I always check mine the instance it arrives.
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Hi Both,
Sorry, it's many years since I retired, so I'm not up to date. I'll check my own licence later.
It MAY be that some heavier vehicles are no longer permitted to be driven on your PROVISIONAL (learner) entitlement, or maybe even full entitlement without a medical.
When I worked at DVLC, I had my nose into everything, whether it was on my job description or not. I believe that I was the only "stranger" that was allowed to just wander into the micro-film area (about a quarter acre), grab a cassette and a microfilm reader, and browse to my heart's content. At the other end of the scale, the Programmers usually made any updates that I requested, without alteration, and Forms Design would "legitimise" anything that I had drafted. In a place like DVLC, a form is a tool. I don't know how I got away with some of the things I did ... I think I stole about fifty 4-drawer filling cabinets from empty offices ... two Clerical Assistants and a ... er ... "borrowed" four-wheel trolley.
I called it INITIATIVE. On the other hand, when I took over "my" team, there were about a dozen Clerical Officers, and half a dozen Clerical Assistants. I managed to reduce that to three Clerical Assistants, and two Clerical Officers, with me helping either/both when things got heavy. That was frowned on ... I was supposed to "manage" my staff, not do their job. MY priority was getting the job done. Black marks for me at Annual Staff Reporting time!
Another time, I had three teams, each of 21 (militant and female) Data Input staff, plus three team leaders. My Manager overheard me joining in their chats about "lady" stuff ... so he marked me down for not respecting my staff. I can assure you that my ladies were quite capable of makings their feelings felt ... they involved me in their chats.
602
PS. Called away by SWMBO, returned to find I'd been overtaken by Alan.
It's a totally bonkers system which is set (deliberately ?) to catch the unwary out
Hi Alan,
I used to think that about the pre-DVLC licence application (Are you old enough?) There would be a long list of questions, all needing a tick in the NO box. I think it was the second from bottom question that asked "Have you studied the Highway Code"? Guess how many applicants just continued ticking the NO column?
Me? I am very pedantic about making sure I've read the question, when filling in all HMSO forms.
OT. If a government form says to "complete this form in black ink" (usually job applications), go and beg, borrow or steal a black pen. I have been told (not confirmed) that using a blue pen when black is demanded, will get you discarded at the first sift. Why take a perhaps unnecessary risk.
More OT ... pre-Millenium Bug, most (all?) DVLC forms used two characters for the year on a document number. I can explain a DVLC document number ... if anybody should be interested. Chaos ruled when a dyslexic clerk transcribed, manually and incorrectly, batch numbers onto control documents. I think there were about four million documents "lost" within the system ... actually all piled in my corner of the DVLC Tower Block. I was given the job of sorting out the correct batch numbers. Probably an honour ... it took many weeks.
602
The DVLC/A have been "accidentally" losing Motorcycle Entitlement off Driving Licences consistently for over 33 years to my certain knowledge.
Hi Neil,
The DRIVERS SYSTEM went live (I think) in 1972, which makes it nearly 50 years, but yes it happened. I have no explanation, other than a clerical error at the editing stage. Data is/was manually edited, I presume to avoid keying unnecessary data, so reducing the amount of computer storage. I had considered, and rejected, the possibility of vindictive editing, to get bikers off the road. I'm surprised that the problem continues.
Unfortunately, I was never in a position where I could investigate that particular problem in my lunch hour. I didn't have enough "rank" to nudge my superiors into action. Barbara passed an SEO promotion board, but the Director demanded she represented DVLA on a Deputy Prime Minister's Task Force ... as an HEO ... working in Bristol. That hit her in her pension,
Barbara started in DVLC in Driver's Enquiries. A young lad complained that his test pass gave him MOPED entitlement only, although his bike had been de-restricted. Barbara asked if he could prove the bike had been de-restricted. The lad sent the necessary evidence, and Barbara "upped" his entitlement. Some of us had a heart.
602
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The DVLC/A have been "accidentally" losing Motorcycle Entitlement off Driving Licences consistently for over 33 years to my certain knowledge.
Not just motorcycle. My brother is an HGV driver. One of the guys driving for the company he works for had his HGV entitlement "lost" by DVLA when he first moved from a paper to a plastic licence.
They wouldn't accept any blame or do anything to try and validate that he was legitimitely driving HGV's, and basically told him he would have to retake a new test. There was absolutely no flexibility or sympathy for the fact they were about to put him out of work for the foreseeable future, not sure how he got it back but I think it involved solicitors.
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Keep copies of anything that you send to DVLA and send everything signed for. If you have a problem involve your MP they can work wonders. They are there to represent you and not just in parliament.
Peter
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Hi Peter,
I also keep copies of important docs that I'm sending to DVLA ... and pay for Recorded Delivery. I also write the registration number on the front of the envelope.
It's not as bad as it used to be, as things like insurance and MOTs, are already accessible to the computer.
Actually, DVLA is a pretty slick operation. Our IT staff used to go on industrial seminars, and take a "lot of stick". But the "mockers" quickly wound their necks when challenged to reveal their daily throughput. In the 1970s, DVLC used to receive about 7 tons of mail every day.
How do you handle a driving licence application from somebody who has a birth certificate proving they were born on the 29th of February ... and NOT in a leap year ...when the computer was programmed to reject it. The programmers fiddled it through?
Our programmers also fiddled the record of an old car, so that the Registration Document identified it (in clear), as a 1901 Daimler Benz Dog Cart.,. in the MANUFACTURER box. I suspect all the other required data was left blank. In theory, it should have been described as "2-AXLE RIGID BODY".
I've also seen a log-book for an Austin Marina (probably re-imported from USA). Our computer didn't like that either.
And then their was the "ARIEL 3". Moped or tricycle? Anyone got a picture?
602
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I had an Ariel 3 years ago. Dreadful. The handlebars and front wheel pivoted so the rider could lean into corners.
I gave it to a mate in the end.
Sorry, no pictures.
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Actually we love to slag off the DVLA ... the reality is that the computerisation of driver and vehicle records is by far the UKs best computerisation project/programme, even if they used an ICL main frame computer back in the day.
When you look at all the other failed UK government computerisations and the billions and billions of our £s wasted the DVLA stands up there on its own :first
... must have been down to 602's diligence ???
(http://www.series2club.co.uk/new_forum/Smileys/wittsends/geek.gif)
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I wonder if Capita are invoklved in it anywhere.
Peter
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When you look at all the other failed UK government computerisations and the billions and billions of our £s wasted the DVLA stands up there on its own :first
Track & Trace, cough...
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... must have been down to 602's diligence
Hi Alan,
Thank you for the kind words ... maybe a little truth.
If I felt something was wrong, or could be improved, I wasn't slow in passing my thoughts up the ladder... sometimes something was done, and my suggested changes were implemented (or improved on) ... once "them upstairs" accepted there WAS a problem, and sometimes my suggestions were sneered at.
On one occasion, I (and five others) were invited to "tea and biscuits" with the Director, for the way we a had (individually) minimised a major lo-tech problem, attacking all parts of the system, that could have brought DVLC to a standstill.
Actually, all I (and my staff) did was to revert to the previous system ... almost seamless change over ... but I wasn't going to tell the Director, was I? Did I have the authority to do it? I doubt it!
The change back was seamless, too.
602
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I recently renewed my licence and found that I am now entitled to ride a motor cycle, not just a moped. This is very nice of them but I have no intention of using it as the only time I ever tried to ride a motorbike I fell off it. That was 60 years ago. I was glad to see when my renewed licence came back that nothing was missing and I am still a Class 1 LGV and All Types PCV driver. I have to have medicals etc. but want to keep all these entitlements.
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I recently renewed my licence and found that I am now entitled to ride a motor cycle, not just a moped.
Hi,
You all know about Barbara's arm.
I taught her to drive, in a Sunbeam Talbot 90, on Penang Island.
Back in UK, she had one professional lesson (We requested just familiarisation with what the examiner would be looking for) and she passed in South Norwood (I think) in a rusty £50 Mini.
Her licence was restricted to " A MOTOR CAR AND A MOTOR TRICYCLE", so no MOPED entitlement.
I looked at her licence recently ... B+E, with no restrictions. How/when did that happen? Other strange things have happened ... twice been clocked on the M4 at 115mph. Told not to do it again. ???
It's best to let sleeping dogs lie ... she's unlikely to ever ride on two wheels, nor drive anything sporty again. The social worker who is sorting Barbara's ramps, seems to be pushing for Barbara to get an automatic. Oh dear, and I'd just calmed the troubled waters
For what it's worth, if DVLC try to reduce your driving entitlement, APPEAL! My understanding is that you should return to your previous entitlement, until such time that they can arrange a test. The test should only be to show that you can drive safely ... not be the pedantic normal test. But what do I know?
602