Driving Licence Changes – Updated

Back in February I posted about the Abolition of the photocard driving licence counterpart.

Today I am updating you on this information to specific customer segments, notably hiring a vehicle and professional driving/driving for a living.

From 8 June 2015, the paper counterpart to the photocard driving licence will not be valid and will no longer be issued by DVLA. The counterpart was introduced to display driving licence details that could not be included on the photocard. These details include some vehicle categories you are entitled to drive and any endorsement/penalty points.

Please note, this does not affect photocard licences issued by DVA in Northern Ireland.

Customers with existing paper counterparts

If you already hold a paper counterpart, after 8 June 2015 it will no longer have any legal status. You should destroy your paper counterpart after this date but you still need to keep your current photocard driving licence.

If you have a paper driving licence which was issued before the photocard driving licence was introduced in 1998 these will remain valid so do not destroy them. Should you need to update any of your personal details or renew your licence, when you apply for this then you will only be issued with a photocard driving licence.

Penalty Points or what we call ‘Endorsements’ will no longer be shown on driving licences from June 8th 2015. This information will be held on the DVLA’s driver record. Should you need to check you can do this online or by post or telephone.

The DVLA has a free service that lets you see what details are on your driving licence and also includes what vehiciles you are allowed to drive and if you have any penalty points. To view the service click here: View Driving Licence service

After 8 June 2015 if you are hiring a vehicle or you drive for a living and you are asked to provide evidence of your driving record (entitlements and/or penalty points), you will be able to do this online for free by accessing the DVLA’s Share Driving Licence service. This service is currently in development but will be available before the counterpart is abolished in June and once we have details I will post on here. The service is for both paper and photocard driving licence holders and will also allow you to download a summary of your licence record which can be printed or shared.

Alternatively you can call DVLA and give permission for your driving record to be checked verbally by a nominated person/organisation.

If you are an organisation or business that rely on the counterpart to check the driving record of customers or employees then the free online Share Driving Licence service will be available before the counterpart is abolished.