DVLA online form frustration!

Write to them. ?

Yes you have been driving illegally and I believe will be subject to a fine.
I do hope you sort it out without too much trouble and hassle for you.

Hi Minimoon,
Unfortunately the DVLA seem to be run by numbers on the applications front and they take no prisoners regarding documentation.

Silverlining's suggestion is a good starting point and I would suggest keeping copies of everything and using registered mail.

The "problem with online forms" is common to many large government departments and it can be very frustrating when you have filled something in almost to the end and then it will not let you proceed because you cannot find a button that says "none of the above - please explain in your own words".

Have you still got anything with your old address on it? Can you copy and send it along with a letter? Common sense says they should be able to tell you the driving licence number if you can prove who you are, but I had a long battle to get them to accept a name change which ended up in a hunt through some ancient stored court records for a piece of paper which they did not need. I wish you the best of luck with it.

Oh, and did you ever have to drive for an employer? I remember in the mid 80s having to produce my driving licence after a young male fellow employee crashed a pool car about 100 yards from the office and was then revealed as an overconfident learner who had only ever had two lessons. The boss who'd hired him was fined for not checking his licence upon recruitment, which we thought a bit unfair as nobody else's had been checked either.
After that, all our licences were thoroughly checked. It is just possible someone else may have a note of seeing your licence and that might help.

I do understand why a provable licence is necessary, but things do get lost and there should be a way to check without causing stress. I'm fed up of constantly having to give out and hand over personal details just to prove who I am. Not everybody has a passport or a photo driving licence.

The fine can be up to £1000.
Not a good prospect before Christmas.

Minimoon I have Googled: lost driving licence and the form does indeed ask for your Driving Licence number but will let you continue if you ignore this box.
It then asks if the licence is in the same as your current address and gives you boxes to fill in your old address.
You have to give quite a lot of proof, National Insurace number, Passport number etc.but I managed to fill the form in without putting my driving licence number in, right to the end, when it asked me to fill in my Bank Card numbers, at which point I, of course deleted the form.
I doubt that they would be able to fine you, as unless you have been caught for speeding, they will have no proof of you actually driving a car on the road.
Many people hold a driving licence without actually driving.
Best of luck with it!

Have you got your plastic licence? The number should be on that.

I only ever had a paper one. The problem with the form was that it wouldn't accept my previous address. I can remember it exactly, even the postcode, all to no avail. I think I'm just going to have to go to the Post office and get a form to fill in. I'm in town tomorrow to have my hair cut, so I'll go and get the form at the same time. Thanks for the replies everyone. It's a good job that I don't drive much these days. Everything is within reach on foot!

Why don't you phone them? I had a problem, I couldn't resolve online, so I phoned.
Perhaps you don't want to speak to anyone, but here is a contact no. in case you do.
DVLA driver licensing enquiries
Telephone: 0300 790 6801

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve driven or not, you can be fined for not updating your address and quite right too.

Rubbish!

Not rubbish at all.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20968886

That article is about being fined for not renewing your photo license. Which should be done every 10 yrs.

I was stopped by police on my way to work one morning for a routine check.
I still had my paper licence, which fell apart in the officer's hands.
There was one letter incorrect on my postcode, which I hadn't noticed. It didn't match correctly the address on my car insurance. The policeman advised me to get the error fixed immediately or else....

nina as far as I understand it, incorrect details are treated the same irrespective of the type of licence. Current OH fell foul of this. Hoops and more hoops .............

Although more worryingly I wonder if a disparity makes insurance invalid. I have no idea on that one.

Buffy I don’t post rubbish when I’m giving factual information. The address on your licence must always be up to date. You can be fined £1000 if it isn’t. As far as your car insurance goes what matters there is the details you give of where you live and where the car is kept. Your licence is not invalid with the wrong address on it.

nina if you’d bothered to read the whole article that Iza linkedto you’d see it also mentioned the pointof keeping your address upto date. What is it with some GNers that facts are seen as optional extras but opinions no matter how stupid and ill informed are sacred.

maryeliza54
It doesn't matter whether you've driven or not, you can still be fined for not updating your address
It is this point that you would be fined for not updating your address, "whether you've driven or not" which I was referring to as Rubbish.
We're not quite a Big Brother, Kafkaesque State yet, where we have people knocking on our door to request your "papers".
Of course you would not be fined if you had not been driving on a Public Road.
The link posted by Izabella specifically says that you could be in trouble driving on a Public Road if you were to be pulled over by the Police and your address was not up to date.

Of course you would be more likely to be caught when driving but the law is not about driving with an out of date address but about having an out of date address. OK?

I'm sorry! But who is going to catch you, if you're not driving at all.
The DVLA don't come round and rummage through your drawers looking for driving licences with an old address on.
They're not M15!

Of course they don’t but you’re missing my point- anyway any sensible grown up should make sure such paperwork is up to date - it’s part of being a responsible citizen. The chances of being stopped when driving are always small but that doesn’t mean all your paperwork shouldn’t be up to date. Izas link btw did not say what the law says about updating your address.

maryeliza I didn't post an opinion, stupid or otherwise.

nina what you posted wasn’t accurate - why do people do this? We’re talking facts here not opinions. The article did cover the need to notify a change of address and that requirement is a legal requirement for which non observance can result in a fine of £1000. That’s the only point that needs making.

maryeliza Everyone should indeed keep their driving licence details up to date, I am not disputing this.
I am disputing your insisting that you were giving factual information, at 5/12/18 20:42 when it was obviously wrong.
It doesn't matter whether you've driven or not, you can be fined for not updating your address.
I just don't agree with someone insisting that a fact is correct when it obviously is not.