DVLA

Much to my surprise, renewing my driving licence was a pretty slick procedure. I'd read all the bad press regarding this and decided to apply well ahead of my deadlinr. Did it all online and, bingo, new licence arrived in post in a couple of days. Nobody was more surprised (or delighted) than me.

That's odd to me.

Here in Canada, at least in my province, you don't normally send in paperwork of that sort - you would go to a registry office. (A registry office here isn't where you go to get married; it's where you go to get civil documents such as your marriage license, birth certificate, driver's license, vehicle registration renewal, etc. And yes, they do the driving tests if you're just being licensed for the first time.) If you need a replacement license due to renewal, yours being lost, etc., they'll give you a temporary paper license. The only caveat is that it does not have a photo, so can't be used as photo ID. But it is a completely legal license. You get your official card in the post later.

The DVLA seem to me to be totally incompetent. I had a 3 year medical licence after an eye operation and this had to be renewed on the 1st April 2021. I applied at the beginning of March to make sure. After wasting time filling in the forms online I was told I had to send in a paper form so I started all over again and posted it. At the end of March I received a letter telling me I needed a visual fields test which they were not able to arrange because of Covid. From the end of April with no further progress I began telephoning every week, sometimes no response, or a recorded message saying they had a backlog, and several industrial actions (I don't blame the poor workers!) By August I was offered a ring back service but when I tried it was not available! I tried online, writing letters and emails - nothing, except that one online chat person said 'try a private eye test'. I know that was useless as originally they would not accept my own optician's report or any of my regular hospital opthamology reports which said my vision was fine. It had to be Specsavers. I rang them and was informed they could not do a test without the form from the DVLA.

Finally at the beginning of September I finally got through and was told in person about the delays and difficulties they were encountering (yes I know!) and told me I could drive under Section 88 ( I know but was uncomfortable about that in case of insurance problems should I have had an accident). The lady was charming and patient and I wished her well with the industrial action. Then a few days later I had a letter inviting me to take the test, not at my local Specsavers but in a town several miles away and difficult to get to because only a limited number of branches have the right equipment now. The test, by the way, was far easier than the ones I regularly have at the hospital!

Within a week on the 8th September I received a letter with my licence, the same letter from the Medical Department and a response to my complaints with the same backlog excuses. What a waste of postage after waitingover 6 months from my application.

Now my family are relieved that they don't have to listen to the continuing saga and you can all have a taste of it.

My husband is in a similar boat, renewed his PSV (bus) licence and we were advised by the doctor doing his medical that the DVLA had a 3 month backlog due to working from home etc during lockdown. The police can definitely check for a valid licence as my DH has to go to certain locations with security clearances etc and they are checked online somehow. DH had his medical on July 4th and we got his new licence through this week!!

My understanding is that if you tell the police your licence is being altered and it’s with the DVLA they will accept that , they can check if they want to.

For a job if it’s for identification most people could use a passport instead. I do agree it’s a long time to wait. No doubt it’s because of Covid which is how most bad service is now explained!