Absolutely fuming with renewing driving license.

@applegingermint It doesn’t improve road safety outcomes though. Australia has a road fatality rate twice that of the UK, and performs worse than the OECD median. The UK is one of the safest places to drive in the world. Only Sweden, Norway and Japan are safer from a road deaths perspective

You are comparing apples with oranges though. In Australia, many places you need to drive 9 odd hours in a stretch between towns on outback roads. It’s dangerous. You need to take petrol with you. There is no respite. If you look at Australia’s statistics you will see they are heavily skewed due to outback road deaths, which no amount of eye checking or license renewal faff is ever going to remove.

Glad it's all sorted!!

Dont be too tough on yourself! You've been through a hell of a lot. Sometimes it's the minor things that's are the final straw!!

🌷

@Gettingbysomehow

how did you get
on today??

I wonder how old that statistic is? I can't believe it can still be true??

I submitted a new one as I didn't want to use the one that I'd used for donkeys years, but it was rejected, I think because I took it in front of an internal door in my house that has a textured surface. I took the second one , again as a selfie, but with a smooth white background ( in the toilet at work!!!), and it was accepted, hopefully it will be something as simple as that, make sure your face is clear, with no hair in your eyes etc, think passport rules, which incidentally my last passport photo was also a selfie. Good luck

Hope all goes well and you have a wonderful time at the festival!

Mine was also refused. I haven’t changed other than aging ten years!

I think it is often hard for people who have the "usual" day to day struggles with life, because everyone has them, to understand how much more goes into disability, and sometimes it's the ridiculous small things that crack us. I'm also disabled (actually elderly and disabled AND TRAVEL ALOT) and even the smallest things require military style planning to execute. I am going to a festival next week - been looking forward to it for months. Got my disabled platform access sorted early, got my PA ticket booked. My favourite band and the last time I will ever see them (they retired last year - don't ask why they are appearing, I don't think they understand the meaning of retired). I am really excited. I am also really scared. Plan drop off points (I am just about ambulatory and try to keep mobile no matter how hard) when they say don't get dropped off nearby because it will be busy. What can go wrong wiuth that plan, have a back up. Make sure I have downloaded all the tickets plus all the PA paperwork in case there is no signal. Paper copies just in case anything goes wrong with that plan. We booked parking in November last year to ensure we got spaces in the closest car park - hope nothing goes wrong. Etc Etc. But this is daily life - I even need to plan getting to the local Co-op. How I manage housework so I don't overdo it. Everything is planned in meticulous detail and then triple planned at times to ensure nothing can go wrong. It's exhausting, and sometimes it just is that last straw that breaks you.

Sorry OP for my inadvertent thread derail.
I also live in a bus black hole. And trains aren’t a thing in my area either. It’s car or just don’t leave the area here, and as a disabled person my car is my life line. I hope you manage to get this sorted.

I am also disabled. I travel when I can.
I know lots of very able bodied and/or young people who don’t travel.

Is there any evidence that elderly and disabled people travel less than the general population because they are elderly or disabled? I suspect not.

Oh, OP, that’s really hard. I hope now your licence is sorted at least some of the pressure is off, and you can start to properly rest up and recover from your operation. Sending you all the best for a speedy recovery and a good return to work x

You dont need to change from your paper licence unless there is a need to do so e.g. if you change address or other details, at which point you'd get a photocard. The old stand alone paper licence is valid until age 70 at which point you'd need a photocard one.

How did you manage that unless you didn’t learn to drive.

“Just get on the bus” - ha! OP, I feel for you. I’m in rural South Glos, not Somerset, and the last bus left our village around four years ago!

This is why l have not bothered getting a photo license until l am 70

I can't hear/read the word "fuming" without thinking of the daily mail for some reason.

Because many don’t travel. What would be the point ?

I’m severely disabled and it’s very difficult (and expensive) to travel. So I’ve never bothered with a passport because it’s another expense for something unnecessary. Now I find that I can’t apply online for a driving licence renewal without one and must pay more to have it processed by the post office. Doesn’t make any sense.

I’m disabled. Have to renew every ten years. To do it online I have to have a passport - difficult and expensive to travel so have never bothered with one as it’s not needed. I’m housebound and without a passport there is no other option than to go to the post office, which entails a carer to take me, and is more expensive than online renewal.

The last time I renewed the DVLA had my licence for over six months while they ‘investigated’ health conditions I’d already reported to them at onset with comprehensive medical evidence. Whenever I rang to chase it, I was given a different account of what was happening, and in the meantime the lease on my motability car was approaching renewal, which I couldn’t complete without my driving licence. It wasn’t until I approached my MP that it was sorted out. There has to be a better and less stressful way than this.

@Gettingbysomehow I have a paper licence valid for another 13 years, no mortgage, I now look too old to be asked for id to buy restricted items. I've got other forms of acceptable id as per gov.uk. No need for a passport if I'm not going abroad.

ETA glad it's sorted out!

========

the point is, is your photo passport compliant? where did you have it taken - is it a selfie or an actual photo in a proper booth.

if you go to Timpsons for example they guarantee that the photo they take of you will comply with the rules.