Odd driver's licence/foreign question.....

Moonpie2

Moonpie2

Moonpie2

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Joined
23 Dec 2002
Posts
2,874
Location
Shiny Shanghai
Hi there

Does anyone have any experience of the following or know any info?
Here's my situation in a nutshell....

I have a UK driving licence however I have been living abroad for X number of years and will continue to do so. So I haven't really done anything with my licence. I don't drive anymore and it's just sitting in my wallet.

Now my sister contacts me saying that I got a letter (as my sister's house is my 'hub' for correspondence and for all intents and purposes is the place I live when I pop back to the UK) saying my licence is about to expire and there might be a 1000 pound fine if I do not renew and also the possibility that my licence will be cancelled :/

So my questions are these....

1) DO I actually have to renew? Since I'm not actually living in the UK currently so why should I need to get a new UK licence straight away?

2) I'm kinda worried that legally I shouldn't even have a licence and I should have told someone about this. Hell, even the address on my licence in my wallet isn't even my sisters CURRENT address :/

3) Does anyone know if there's such a thing as 'putting your licence on hold' or something? Then I can just renew it when/if I go back to the UK?

There does seem to be a 'renew your licence online' option on the gov website however you need a sort of government online login ID to use it, and the site seems currently broken and I cannot register :(

Sorry for rambling.
These things really wind me up when I'm living abroad and it takes like 3 days to get an official reply when I fire off an email to the DVLA.

Cheers
 
Its probably the photo part of the license which has to be updated every 10 years - the fine is if you drive on it in the UK without an upto date photo - in some (not normal) cases if you don't renew after a certain amount of time the license will become invalid until you've resat the test (I think this depends on what categories you have on the license).

As an aside you should notify the DVLA to update things like change of address as otherwise you could commit an offense on returning to the UK should you start driving again.
 
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Oh yeah, I absolutely wouldn't drive on this licence again in it's current form if I came back to the UK, I'd definitely be updating it first.

So what you're basically saying is, don't worry about the fine, that's just for driving on an out of date/expired/wrong details licence if you come back to the UK, it's not for the simple act of not renewing the licence?

And also, realistically, the worst and most annoying thing that can happen if I fail to renew is that the licence gets cancelled and I have to retake my test again at some point in the future?
 
Yeah nothing happens if you don't update the photo part aslong as you don't drive on it again before renewing/updating details.
 
It's only something like £10 to update the photo I think. Personally I'd just do it as then you would be ok for the next ten years. Unless you are 100% sure you won't be driving here again I suppose.
 
Well I dunno what the difference between it 'just being the photo' or it expiring is, but the expiry date on my licence is the beginning of August.

But as mentioned, there's no actual way for me to update since the website doesn't work and I'm not in the country.

I guess I might consider asking the DVLA if I can send my sis my pics (signed) and also a signed declaration saying she's allowed to do the update process for me. See what they say.

But yeah, at the end of the day, this is just to avoid the annoyance of possibly taking a test again in the future, not like I need my licence for anything currently.
 
^^ Over complicating it IMO - just send your sister the pics and relevant info and have her send it off. (EDIT: Well atleast I think she can collect the form and send it without problem).
 
Not difficult, get her to send you the renewal form:

Applying by post
You need to fill in renewal form D798 and include:

a new passport type photo taken within the last month (don’t sign the back of the photo)
your current photocard licence (you need to tick the relevant box on the D798 form if you’ve lost it)
a cheque or postal order for £17, payable to DVLA (no fee is needed if you have a medical short period licence or you’re aged 70 or over)
You also need to include identity documents if you’ve changed your name.

Send the application to:

DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1DH

Get it sent you your sisters address and she can then send it back to you or she can keep it for safe keeping.
 
Seems the fine is for failure to renew, not driving with an out of date licence :/

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Yep as you've discovered, had to recently do this with mine. I would have thought you'd have got a bit of a telling off for not updating the address on your licence as well.

The way i see it, you've got two choices, the first is paying the renewal fee and getting a new licence. Or cancelling your licence (will assume that's possible), but as you've mentioned, this would probably require you to retake your test if you wish to obtain a UK driving licence again.
 
mattcrane said:
Not difficult, get her to send you the renewal form:

Applying by post
You need to fill in renewal form D798 and include:

a new passport type photo taken within the last month (don’t sign the back of the photo)
your current photocard licence (you need to tick the relevant box on the D798 form if you’ve lost it)
a cheque or postal order for £17, payable to DVLA (no fee is needed if you have a medical short period licence or you’re aged 70 or over)
You also need to include identity documents if you’ve changed your name.

Send the application to:

DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1DH

Get it sent you your sisters address and she can then send it back to you or she can keep it for safe keeping.
Click to expand...

+1

We did my wifes online, you need:
  • a valid UK passport
  • to be a resident of Great Britain - there’s a different service in Northern Ireland
  • to pay £14 by MasterCard, Visa, Electron, Maestro or Delta debit or credit card (there’s no fee if you’re over 70 or have a medical short period licence)
  • addresses of where you’ve lived over the last 3 years
  • your current driving licence (if you don’t have your licence you must say why in your application)
  • your National Insurance number
  • to not be disqualified from driving
Just use your sisters address, and assuming you have a valid UK passport, it should be easy enough..
 
When the website it working it takes all of 5 minutes, let them use the picture from your passport, update anything you like such as the address, give them the monies job jobbed.
 
Moonpie2 said:
1) DO I actually have to renew? Since I'm not actually living in the UK currently so why should I need to get a new UK licence straight away?
Click to expand...

No, you don't have to renew it if you're not using it - if you're permanently living outside the UK it probably isn't valid anyway and you need to get a local licence if you want to drive.

2) I'm kinda worried that legally I shouldn't even have a licence and I should have told someone about this. Hell, even the address on my licence in my wallet isn't even my sisters CURRENT address :/

3) Does anyone know if there's such a thing as 'putting your licence on hold' or something? Then I can just renew it when/if I go back to the UK?
Click to expand...

If you move to a country who will exchange your UK licence for a local one they usually take your UK licence and return it to the DVLA who mark it as exchanged.

Some countries (like the USA) don't do this - I have a New Jersey licence plus my old UK one but when the photo expires on my UK licence I won't renew it. When I've been back to the UK and rented a car I've used my NJ licence anyway.
 
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