Go to sleep, my brother, I'm all right to drive

[venta]

Public service announcement: if you have a photocard driving licence, check the expiry date on it. It's "4b" on the front ("4a" is date of issue).

A colleague of mine recently tried to hire a car, and was surprised to find his photocard had expired 5 years ago. I checked mine, and despite it having only been issued in January of this year, it runs out in March 2012. We think this is because I didn't supply a new photo when I changed my address with the DVLA, and a photo is only good for ten years. March 2002 sounds a probable date for my first photocard application.

We're not sure whether or not the DVLA will write and tell you when it expires. Presumably they do... so long as they have the correct address for you :)

Comments

so long as they have the correct address

[ewx.livejournal.com]

IIRC it's an offence not to tell them your new address within a few months, so if they don't then you might want to get that sorted l-)

Mine runs out sometime next year.

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[venta.livejournal.com]

It is an offence, yes. However, an awful lot of people don't do it.

I think it starts with university - people who have licences don't switch when they move to university (keeping their parents' address as their permanent address due to frequent moves at college, and part-time attendance). People then seem to move fairly frequently for a bit after university... and then ten years later they suddenly realise their licence is still at their parents' address.

Certainly last time I tried to use my licence as proof-of-address in a Blockbuster video shop they refused to accept it because it was too unreliable :)

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[lnr]

Although for most of last year our next door neighbours could have proved they lived at our address, using their BT phonebills. The new neighbours seem to have managed to convince BT that 52A exists though, as we've not seen any more.

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

It does become a problem if you ever get a speeding ticket and have to get your license endorsed, as if it had the wrong address on it you have to go to court and pay the full fine (rather than the reduced amount for prompt payment), and they're also likely to fine you more for driving with an invalid license.

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[venta.livejournal.com]

... not to mention that even if you're 100% law-abiding you won't get letters off them about anything you need to do/know.

I'm not suggesting it's a good thing not to keep your address up to date, merely that empirically it happens an awful lot.

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[ewx.livejournal.com]

People still use Blockbusters? I thought high street video rental had been entirely demolished by Lovefilm, Netflix, etc l-)

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[venta.livejournal.com]

This was actually a few years ago.

But yes... for my model of film watching (wanting unexpectedly to watch a film, this evening, about once every three years) is very poorly catered for by the likes of Lovefilm :)

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

Mm. I'm not sure about wanting unexpectedly to watch a film, but the likelihood of being in the mood to watch a horror movie one night and having been sent Bambi is the main thing that puts me off.

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

but the likelihood of being in the mood to watch a horror movie one night and having been sent Bambi is the main thing that puts me off.

Ooooh, I know this one! Bambi and horror films.

One of them is one that you get banned from watching by a SO because it's too disturbing and will mean you won't be able to sleep, and the other one is one you watch together with lots of wine and giggle the whole way through at the cliches, right?


Now remind me which is which?

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

[snork]

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I think they do online now. Of course not everyone's set up for watching that in a sensible way.
I'm still waiting for VM to offer every film ever, on demand, over their cable network. Seems like the obvious thing to do.

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

I've often wondered what people with multiple homes and cars that live at each of them are supposed to do.

Yeah, I know, would be a hard life wouldn't it? Parental address/grotty digs where everything is lost is the normal scenario.

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ask an MP :)

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

I believe that one of them is defined as the "primary address".

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

It should be quite difficult not to. You have to pay VED yearly, which requires your address. You have to have an MOT yearly, which requires your address. And you have to renew insurance yearly, which requires your address. All these things are in theory cross-checked against each other, so it should be relatively unusual to be much out of date.

(Not impossible, of course.)

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'd expect you to know more about this than I do, but I don't think it works like that :)

I think your VED reminder goes to the address on the car's V5 (ie registered keeper's address, and nothing to do with the address on anyone's driving licence). In addition, I think you can go to a PO and buy a tax disc without the reminder, and I don't think you have to give your address.

I don't remember ever putting my address on anything relating to an MOT.

Now I buy my tax discs online, I could believe they check the details. However, I suspect that historically it was perfectly possible to use different addresses for insurance, V5 and licence.

Plus, if you leave everything registered at an old address the cross checking wouldn't pick it up anyway :)

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

You know, I was getting myself confused between your drivers license and your vehicle-related stuff, I think. It wasn't that late when I made the comment... must be getting old.

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[lnr]

Not everyone with a driving licence has a car of course!

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember it's an offence if you are actually driving and it's found to be out of date...although I could be wrong on that.

I certainly need to get mine sorted now I've moved to Kent, along with some refresher lessons, because although I passed my test in 6th form, and I've been listed as a second driver for our insurance for ages so I can theoretically drive if needs be, London traffic always scared the %^($( out of me - so getting refresher lessons wasn't a priority until we moved out!

Re: so long as they have the correct address

[ewx.livejournal.com]

It's ~9 years since I last had to care so, er, I'd look it up rather than trusting my memory l-)