Over 70 Driving Licence Renewal

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

It must be time that cycle lighting was subjected to some regulation and enforcement. I encountered a cyclist with a high intensity flashing headlight that seemed to be set to shine straight in the eyes of oncoming traffic, as I was waiting at a crossroads to go straight on I had the pleasure of this idiots light for some time, I advised him his light was annoying but obviously I must be wrong as he just ignored me, it would be nice to have a flasher circuit for my LED headlight so I could return the favour with flashing full beam for these special idiots.

Mike

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, talking about my late brothers Austin 1100 I still have his old log book for it and these cars were renowned as being "Rust Buckets" although they were a nice car to drive in their day, but shortly after his death his car was due for an MOT which found extensive rusting in some very important places, which wouldn't have made economical sense to repair, however many spare parts were salvaged from it for repairs to an MG 1100 that I bought off my brother-in-law around mid 74 and my MG had at least double the life of the Austin, which only had eight years, so although we felt he had been fleeced by the dealer he bought it off, his money wasn't totally wasted.

Regards Nick.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Road traffic regulations don't apply to cyclists, or why would they ignore red traffic lights, cycle without lights, go the wrong way up one way streets with impunity

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Mike Poole on 06/12/2021 15:27:46:

It must be time that cycle lighting was subjected to some regulation and enforcement. I encountered a cyclist with a high intensity flashing headlight that seemed to be set to shine straight in the eyes of oncoming traffic, as I was waiting at a crossroads to go straight on I had the pleasure of this idiots light for some time, I advised him his light was annoying but obviously I must be wrong as he just ignored me, it would be nice to have a flasher circuit for my LED headlight so I could return the favour with flashing full beam for these special idiots.

Mike

You saw him, though, Mike, didn't you?

I agree that the light should not have been in flashing mode, but the reason why cyclists increasingly have these sorts of very bright lights is not to antagonize motorists, but in order not to fall victim to a SMIDSY incident.

Every clubmate of mine in my cycling club has had a SMIDSY at some point, most of us more than once. I've been to court twice over separate incidents where I was injured, my bike damaged, and the motorist found guilty of driving without due care and failing to stop.

A friend currently has three personal injury cases in the hands of solicitors after separate SMIDSYs over the last four years, and a fellow club mate who represented GB early in his career was killed in July by a motorist who didn't see him and pulled out on him from a side road.

In answer to the general complaint that cyclists' lights nowadays are too bright, my response is that maybe this is because too many motorists are a bit dim.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 06/12/2021 16:10:28:

Hi, talking about my late brothers Austin 1100 I still have his old log book for it

That log book encompases the time that I was at St James primary school in Lynn.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Mark, I left school and was working by the summer after the last duty stamp on page 9, but they certainly encouraged one to tax the cars for a whole year.

Regards Nick.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I have just got the application form for my second over 70's driving licence, the current one expires next March. As I have no special licences on top of my car and motorcycle ones, the form would have taken only 5 minutes to complete, but I decided to do it online which actually took longer. The main problem was remembering how long had I lived in the present house, and finding that rather than saving sending the form by post, I still have to cut up my present licence and post it to them.

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

I doubt if they check any returns; especially as by all rumours the postal route can be very poor

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Old Mart

Best wait until your new licence arrives before cutting up and returning the old one in case you have to produce it to police for any reason.

Emgee

Edited By Emgee on 12/12/2021 15:32:08

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

In respect of cyclists, there is a set of traffic lights in the next village to us which have been modified with small repeater lights located about four feet off the ground on the supporting column of the traffic lights, similar to those seen on traffic lights in France but these repeaters are not in phase with the main lights at the top of the column. They carry cycle symbols on the lights and are presumably for the benefit of cyclists who take advantage of the red area at the threshold of the lights where cyclists are permitted to wait in front of other vehicles before starting to cross the junction, these repeaters change a matter of a few seconds before the main lights, I presume this is to allow cyclists a head start on crossing the junction, well I haven’t seen any official information regarding these extra lights and wonder how they are viewed in legal issues if an accident was to occur. Has anyone else seen these lights fitted to traffic light columns? Dave W

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Posted by Emgee on 12/12/2021 15:21:21:

Old Mart

Best wait until your new licence arrives before cutting up and returning the old one in case you have to produce it to police for any reason.

Emgee

Edited By Emgee on 12/12/2021 15:32:08

That had occurred to me also, but probably not as vital as in the days before the internet. At least I will be able to use the envelope provided with a slight change of postcode.

 If I had filled the form to renew by post, I would have had to include the current licence anyway, so the online method proved to be less efficient than snail mail.

Edited By old mart on 12/12/2021 16:21:09

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

Posted by Graham Meek on 30/11/2021 17:29:57:

I would have thought they knew who you are, especially if you tax your vehicle with them.

However it does not bode well for me as I will have to jump through the same hoops next May. For a start I do not have a valid passport. Then there is the paper driving license that I hold, they have probably not even logged those numbers into the computer.

Regards

Gray,

It seems I was tempting fate with my above remarks.

I am now 21 days inside my 90 day notification period and as yet no reminder.

A week ago I contacted the CEO of the DVLA. It was a simple enquiry as to when I would receive my reminder. When I did not receive any form of a response I filled in an on-line Complaint a few days later. Which has now become a "Case". It looks like there is a judge and jury involved from this remark.

Considering the machine that sends out the reminders only needs to be fed paper and envelopes. I cannot quite see how their on-line blurb of an excuse, that Covid is to blame . Or may be their other excuse of industrial action is nearer the mark, and someone has really thrown a spanner in the works.

Personally I do not see me getting a reminder and I will have to go for Plan B. Get a form D1 from the Post Office and do it that way.

Anyone else inside their 90 day notification period?

Regards

Gray,

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Graham, I had to renew my photo licence middle of last month and a website says you get a reminder, but I didn't get one, even up to three days before my old one ran out. So I did it online anyway and it came the day before the old one did run out, but the start date is two days before. However I do have a current passport which does help, only thing is, I've got to renew it in summer next year when I become 70, but at least I shouldn't have to pay for that one.

Regards Nick.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Graham Meek on 12/03/2022 13:18:24:

Posted by Graham Meek on 30/11/2021 17:29:57:

I would have thought they knew who you are, especially if you tax your vehicle with them.

However it does not bode well for me as I will have to jump through the same hoops next May. For a start I do not have a valid passport. Then there is the paper driving license that I hold, they have probably not even logged those numbers into the computer.

Regards

Gray,

It seems I was tempting fate with my above remarks.

I am now 21 days inside my 90 day notification period and as yet no reminder.

A week ago I contacted the CEO of the DVLA. It was a simple enquiry as to when I would receive my reminder. When I did not receive any form of a response I filled in an on-line Complaint a few days later. Which has now become a "Case". It looks like there is a judge and jury involved from this remark.

Considering the machine that sends out the reminders only needs to be fed paper and envelopes. I cannot quite see how their on-line blurb of an excuse, that Covid is to blame . Or may be their other excuse of industrial action is nearer the mark, and someone has really thrown a spanner in the works.

Personally I do not see me getting a reminder and I will have to go for Plan B. Get a form D1 from the Post Office and do it that way.

Anyone else inside their 90 day notification period?

Regards

Gray,

All explained on the web and in the press Graham.

COVID caused major problems at the DVLA, who normally have 8000 staff concentrated in an office block in Swansea. Space limitations caused severe difficulties when the 2m rule and other COVID restrictions were applied. Got worse when staff felt management weren't doing enough and there were four or five strikes last year, not helped by government turning down a deal after it had been agreed. Last figures showed 500 staff in the building and 2000 working from home, which is a severe problem.

Running at a staff shortage of nearly 70% whilst prioritising HGV Drivers and Health Workers has resulted in a queue of about 1,000,000 license changes.

It's claimed DVLA's online services weren't badly disrupted, so anyone doing a vanilla online change is OK. Unfortunately anything requiring human intervention is subject to long delays because a huge queue has built up and not many people have been able to work on it.

DVLA's advice here – especially 'Can I drive while my application is with DVLA'. The only difficult condition is 'Your doctor must have told you that you are fit to drive.' Eeek! – my surgery also has long queues due to COVID…

These are not normal times!

Dave

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

IF you want to RENEW your old license at 70 or older you will need a medical and eye test ! You will LOOSE numerous categories if you do it on line. It will be a NEW TYPE of license and may affect driving anything more than cars and light vans, larger motorhomes Etc you will loose. Be warned ! Noel.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

sorry noel but no med required or eye test Ive done mine today

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Posted by bernard towers on 12/03/2022 17:52:36:

sorry noel but no med required or eye test Ive done mine today

Sorry Bernard but if applying for a licence at 70 years old to continue to drive vehicles requiring a Class 1 (not HGV) licence you do need to provide a medical report from either your Doctor or one of the approved organisations.
Otherwise as Noel says you lose those classes from your licence.

Perhaps for a single type car licence a medical is not required, you just state any sight issues and if you wear glasses to improve vision.

Emgee

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Bernard You will find you have lost several categories, trust me I did all of it 2 years ago ! I still have 7.5T You won't now ! Noel

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

My wife and I will be 76 in May and last week we got the reminder to renew.

Included in the envelope was a return envelope to the DVLA at Swansea, right postcode, should be wish to to renew by post, for which a form was also included, but also included was a page advising to renew on-line, which we did, and were told our new licence would arrive within a week. We shall see! The return envelope was used to return the old driving licence, saving the pair of us two envelopes and a stamp – every little helps they say.

Renewing online was easy and straightforward, the main things was to get some details together before starting – passport number, NI number and driving licence number and working out how long we had lived here. Having these to hand first made the process painless. We had no medical issues to slow things down either.

Chris

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I don't think it's unreasonable for people who are getting on, and so more likely to have issues, to have a medical and an eye test before being allowed to drive 7.5 te vehicles and minibuses. you can kill a lot of people with either of those.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Posted by ChrisH on 12/03/2022 18:38:45:

My wife and I will be 76 in May and last week we got the reminder to renew.

Renewing online was easy and straightforward, the main things was to get some details together before starting – passport number, NI number and driving licence number and working out how long we had lived here. Having these to hand first made the process painless. We had no medical issues to slow things down either.

Chris

That's all well a good, I don't have a passport and ended up sending it by post and getting my licence back in a week, I'm not 70 for exactly two years but I'm on a limited licence because I inject Insulin.

Martin P

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Posted by martin perman on 12/03/2022 19:03:57:

That's all well a good, I don't have a passport and ended up sending it by post and getting my licence back in a week, I'm not 70 for exactly two years but I'm on a limited licence because I inject Insulin.

Martin P

And we (insulin dependent diabolics) lost our 7.5 class more than 20 years ago.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Posted by Mark Rand on 12/03/2022 19:13:07:

Posted by martin perman on 12/03/2022 19:03:57:

And we (insulin dependent diabolics) lost our 7.5 class more than 20 years ago.

That I didn't mind as I lost access to my brothers 7.5 TK when he swapped it for a 11 ton truck, my only annoyance is that I had to de rate my Ifor Williams trailer from 2.0 ton to 1.5 ton as the towing vehicle is 2 ton.

Martin P

[David-Clark 1Participant @david-clark1]

Reply to Asmsaranda

[In respect of cyclists, there is a set of traffic lights in the next village to us which have been modified with small repeater lights located about four feet off the ground on the supporting column of the traffic lights, similar to those seen on traffic lights in France but these repeaters are not in phase with the main lights at the top of the column.]

I would call these snowflake lights!

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

I have kept my old plastic licence & carry it for identification purposes. My up to date one is at home where it will not get lost. No one is going to look at the date on the licence when asking for identification & if a policeman stops me then he can read the number & quickly check validity with HQ. I doubt that he would check date, but if he did I would just look stupid (easy enough) & say I made a mistake. It avoids losing the correct one. I have not been reminded to send it back & i would just say, assumed lost in post !!.

I also keep an old barclay card on my boat. On a number of occasions I have been asked to leave my card as security, ie when hiring a bike when on holiday abroad etc. So I leave my out of date one. No one checks. When I come to pay I say " Oh, i will pay with another card" & swop them. I do not want my current card being held by others.

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 12/03/2022 21:02:56

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