UK DRIVING LICENCE [ 2022 issue ]

[Bob Unitt 1Participant @bobunitt1]

Posted by Mike Hurley on 29/04/2022 10:23:58:

So my vote is to sack all the morons in the dvla, and simply replace it with a big Artificial Intellegence computer system.

Seconded !

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

I will be 82 in September and due to renew mine for the 5th time, however i won't bother as i would not feel safe driving these days.

[MetalhackerParticipant @metalhacker]

As Mike Hurley says above, it is the medical department which s useless. I applied for my over 7p licence online. Got a questionnaire back saying if I didn’t reply within 2 weeks my application would be void. Sent it back within 5 minutes. Got another questionnaire about my visual fields 2 weeks later. Nthing since and that was 8 months ago. Tried rining, the medical departments answering device, on all options effectively says eff off and die! We are too busy to do any work! I wrote to my MP about it yesterday. Got a reply by that evening and will send him all the relevant details. I hope it works, but am not holding my breath!

What a bunch of incompetents!

Andries

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

SWMBO' has just reached 70. I applied for her licence renewal on the interweb as soon as possible. She has three medical conditions which could have prevented her driving, but they are all either under control or fixed. We then receive a form wanting more information about "your condition", no clue as to which one, and a threat if we don't reply her licence will be stopped. We just filled in details of the most recent and returned it "signed for". I've had government departments claiming they hadn't received something, it miraculously turned up when I said the post office say it has. Don't expect integrity or competence from these agencies. However it's not their fault, the politicians set up complex systems then employ too few untrained, underpaid people to implement them. Anyone tried filling in the long self employed tax return, we need Andrew with his PhD.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Well now, isn't this silly!

I related on the 28 April how I had received my replacement licence four days after applying for it. So that's seven days ago, or 11 since I initially applied on-line and returned my cut up old licence.

This morning, I have received a complete set of forms inviting me to apply for my replacement licence, and, at the same time telling me that it's so much easier to do it all on-line.

So, what to do? Send it back? Paper re-cycling? Favourite seems to be to hold on to it for a while and take no action. But, I despair, I really do. How much has this cost? And if it's multiplied nationally, how much is DVLA wasting?

Shaking my head in disbelief,

Peter G. Shaw

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Peter G., personally I would hold onto it for awhile just to make sure I don't need to do anything and after tearing out and shredding personal details (including all bar and QR codes) and then recycle the rest of it.

Regards Nick.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Metalhacker on 29/04/2022 14:13:15:

… I wrote to my MP about it yesterday. Got a reply by that evening and will send him all the relevant details. I hope it works, but am not holding my breath!

What a bunch of incompetents!

Andries

Worth trying, but it probably won't fix the underlying problem, whatever it is!

• COVID is still causing havoc in the workplace. The current variant may not be bumping people off but it's highly infectious, and takes people off the job for 3 or 4 days. Worse, the outbreaks occur in clusters, so if one person in a workplace catches it, chances are several others will be off sick shortly after. Last figures published showed over a million ill with COVID in the UK. Your MP can't fix that, though he might help provide the ways and means needed to reduce DVLA's gigantic backlog.
• If DVLA's problems are due to mismanagement, the present government has been in power since 2006 without fixing it. Better for MPs to understand as a group that they will be held accountable at the next election for the government's poor performance, rather than have them bat off individual cases. But in doing this, voters are responsible for ensuring the problem really was mismanagement. Lashing out without evidence is as damaging as fan boys smoothing over their team's inexcusable blunders!

Dave

[Bob Unitt 1Participant @bobunitt1]

I just received a 10-page form to fill-in from the DVLA, with a letter referring to my 'recent' application (sent more than 6 months ago). Given that it's taken them 6 months to simply start the process, I don't see myself driving again any time soon . Needless to say, the form asks me for repeats of a great deal of information I've already given them…

[Fowlers FuryParticipant @fowlersfury]

Congratulations on getting a response, however useless it may be.

Since posting my earlier note re. HMRC, I've written yet again more in hope than expectation that they'll concede I no longer have to submit a tax return. Now, after 2 years of "we aim to respond within 5 weeks" – they've even stopped sending that fallacious promise.

Hey ho,

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

May initially seem off-topic, but isn't!

Have read recently that the government are altering the rules about passport expiry dates, which will cause confusion at the passport office – hence creating more delays. A number of commentators have said that this is to deliberately cause these delays and give them an excuse to privatise the whole show. Obviously I can't personally say if this is true or not.

However, if it is, why not do the same with the DVLA? Why not write to your MP and suggest this?

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Mike Hurley on 06/05/2022 10:13:05:

May initially seem off-topic, but isn't!

Have read recently that the government are altering the rules about passport expiry dates, which will cause confusion at the passport office – hence creating more delays. A number of commentators have said that this is to deliberately cause these delays and give them an excuse to privatise the whole show. Obviously I can't personally say if this is true or not.

However, if it is, why not do the same with the DVLA? Why not write to your MP and suggest this?

Not sure government would need an excuse if privatisation made sense – most civil service functions have long since been privatised.

Nationalisation and Privatisation are just tools, and neither is always the right answer. Applying them dogmatically often ends badly, and I think applying either for political reasons is unwise.

Privatisation makes sense when a government department performs a function where two or more commercial organisations compete to provide the same function. In theory, Competition keeps prices down and performance high, though in practice many commercial companies fail instead, as we've just seen happen to a shower of Energy Companies. Privatisation doesn't work when the alternative doesn't naturally foster competition. So privatising Her Majesties Stationary Office (supplying pens, paper and office equipment to government) was a success, but privatising the railways by creating an artificial market has caused more trouble than it's worth!

Privatising core government functions like tax collection, the armed forces, roads and the police always fail. Other functions, like prisons, are more blurred, and it's common for them to return in-house after privatisation has failed, often spectacularly!

One advantage of privatisation was it avoided an EU rule restricting government subsidies and spending on stuff governments should steer clear of such as Europe's National Airlines all being expensively kept afloat by subsidies, plus a bunch of no-hope commercial failures in Car, Ship, and Steel making, not to mention Wine Lakes and Butter Mountains!. Privatisation opened the door to other ways of raising money such as the hideously expensive PFI scheme, still paid for by the taxpayer. Presumably, this advantage has gone because European rules no longer apply!

Privatising the Passport Office doesn't seem to offer any advantage to the taxpayer. Undesirable because passports are a core government security function and there's no competition to drive value for money. Privatisation is an advantage to politicians though – lets them off the hook when things goes wrong by making it less clear they are still responsible.

I wouldn't write to my MP recommending Nationalisation or Privatisation because I don't have access to the information needed to make a rational choice. Not a matter of opinion because all the pros and cons have to be carefully considered. In particular, and this applies to the DVLA as well, how exactly will competition be introduced into the system? Recommending privatisation is easy, making it work in the absence of natural competition is hard!

Dave

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Posted by michael cole on 28/04/2022 13:54:14:

Hi Bob, I work in a agenty like the DLVA. Two things to speed up the process. Make a formal conplaint and do not accept NO push it all the way to the man/woman at the top and write to your MP. These are the two ways to jump the que.

Good advice had to do the same thing myself due to the way they handled my number plate being cloned

H

[Bob Unitt 1Participant @bobunitt1]

Just necro-posting to this old thread with a bit of relevant information for anyone on a medical suspension in the UK (ISTR one being mentioned in this forum earlier).

I had a heart problem for a few months last year, which meant I had to surrender my driving licence . When I was cured I applied to the DVLA for a new licence, with a letter from the consultant saying I was fit to drive, on 14th October 2021. I rang the DVLA and was told it would take from 6 to 10 weeks. On 29th April 2022 I received a set of forms to fill in (which started by thanking me for my "recent" ! application). I returned the forms, with all the information they requested, on 6th May. On 2nd August received a letter from the DVLA to say they were going to contact my heart consultant for his opinion (which he'd already given in the letter from him I forwarded with the original application). Today (29th September) my new licence finally arrived – a total of 50 weeks after the original application !

In short – 1) Don't believe any date or duration the DVLA tells you, 2) Don't give up, they seem to be getting round to doing things eventually.

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Posted by magpie on 29/04/2022 12:49:13:

I will be 82 in September and due to renew mine for the 5th time, however i won't bother as i would not feel safe driving these days.

I changed my mind and did renew it. I thought it is a good means of identification if i ever need it..I did it on line and it arrived 4 days later.

Dek.

[vic neweyParticipant @vicnewey60017]

If you order your licence online and don't tick any health problem boxes then the new licence comes through fast. That would be done by computer or thousands of DVLA employees. However medical ones are done by Blodwyn Davies working from home in Blaenau Ffestiniog, she is currently is not feeling too well so claiming sick pay with a sicknote verified and accepted by the DVLA.

If you tick a health problem box then you open a can of worms which goes on for months and months. DVLA ignore your doctors or consultants letter saying you are perfectly fit to drive and likely as not will send you for their 'special' tests.

Not declaring any medical problems you have that appear on the form not only voids your motor insurance but also leads to prosecution by the DVLA and £1000 fine + big problems if you were involved in an accident with injuries

[File HandleParticipant @filehandle]

Mine arrived after 2 working day from an online application. Also have a poor quality image. I assume that they are stored as a poor quality file to save computer storage space.

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Many moons ago when I gave up riding motorbikes and bought a van, I wrote to the Motor Tax shower to tell them that the bike was no longer being used, giving them full details regarding the van.

So far, so good !, I received a reply thanking me very much and saying that they would adjust their records.

Great ! until six months later, they wrote to ask why my bike had not been taxed ?

I wrote back explaining that I no longer used the bike, it was off the road as I had already explained six months before.

I then received a letter thanking me for the "update" and assuring me that they would adjust their records.

Fast forward another six months and I get yet another reminder that I have failed my bike !

This time, I wrote back to say that despite trying very hard and even with help from friends, I was unable to drive both the van and the bike at the same time, so I had decided to stay with the van and leave the bike where it had been for the past twelve months.

I heard no more ! I dont even try to understand these people anymore .

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Did my medical (diabetic) license renewal a few weeks ago, also online. The replacement license arrived 5 days later. Three days after that, I got a letter saying that they'd keep me informed about the progress of my renewal.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Larry, I thought you had to S.O.R.N (statutory off road notification) any licenced vehicle if you took it "off of the road". Another way is to Export the vehicle.

Bob

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Hint for Larry : **LINK**

https://www.gov.uk/sorn-statutory-off-road-notification

Play by their rules and it should all be O.K.

MichaelG.

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

Absolutely – don't try writing nicely to this bunch of morons, you'll get more sense communicating with my cat !

SORN is the way to go.

ps My wife actually received her driving licence a few weeks back – only took 11 Months after applying for renewal, and the intervention of our (very effective) M.P.

Happy days

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 30/09/2022 07:32:21:

Hint for Larry : **LINK**

https://www.gov.uk/sorn-statutory-off-road-notification

Play by their rules and it should all be O.K.

MichaelG.

Not necessarily, I've an idea Larry lives in Eire…

Dave

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Might I suggest that any communication with useless departments like DVLA should be limited to a hard copy letter printed off your tablet and set with a certificate of posting. Leave a copy letter and certificate in vehicle to show police if stopped and carry on driving. In other words, you have proof of having done right and it's down to the DVLA to get their act together. I had a similar problem many years ago. I was a member of one of the larger breakdown organisations. Foolishly,as it turned out, I took out full comprehensive insurance via them. Cover note arrived. After around a month, I complained and new cover note arrived with a bullshit covering letter about how busy they were. I complained to the insurance company and got a similar response. This nonsense started in the spring and went on most of the summer. I said to wife I've paid a years premium so as they said, I was covered even on a cover note. I will continue driving even if the cover notes keep running out. Eventually, I wrote a sarcastic letter to the bosses of both businesses querying whether their repeated assurances that I was covered would still hold true if had a serious crash and the third party put in a claim for £X million? Told them they needed their heads bashed together and threatened to go to national newspaper. That Certificate arrived PDQ !

Never again will I use an org like that or any other agent collecting commission at my expense. Needless to say I ditched the pair of them at the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately we're all stuck with Swansea – nowhere else to go.

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

I should add to the above, that I keep copies of insurance certificate, MOT and certain other docs in car in case of collision or police stops, just in case. Not even had a breath test yet and it would be neg anyway.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

RENEW, QUICK AND EASY, ON LINE ! If your 70 then it's time for a NEW licence Your licence WILL NOT be renewed ! You will LOOSE several categories. In fact you cant even use the forms they will send you, THERE WRONG !!!!

To renew your licence you will need form D2 and a medical report D4, a medical examination and eye test !

Last time round I did renew, medical £50 and eye test free. DO NOT go to your doctor, A) ti will take months and B) it will cost over £100. There are firms that run medicals for this purpose, check on line, the company I used was D for drivers! Good Luck Noel

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