DVLA 😡😡😡

[GoodnightGrandma]

Has anyone managed to get through on the phone ?
It’s either engaged, or you get a message which then cuts you off.

I have, eventually. I ended up speaking to someone who was helpful. She said they are now processing paper applications received in late July and I should get mine in two weeks, if I don’t I should call them back (nightmare) as it may have been lost …

It’s absolutely impossible. So frustrating. Ds applied online for a provisional licence in mid July. Unfortunately, he was then requested by post, to send in a more up-to-date photo, at which point it became a postal application and was sucked into the black hole now operated by the DVLA.

I’ve even contacted my MP(!) and complained how Kafkaesque it all is. It’s not so much the delay (although the MP got back to me to apologise that the delay is running at 17 weeks!!), as that there is literally no way of getting through to them to check that what you’ve sent has reached them, or if they might require extra info.

It appears to me that the online applications are being dealt with instantaneously by people working from home, while there is one person in the office ploughing their way through opening a mountain of post heaped on the DVLA doormat!

It appears to me that the online applications are being dealt with instantaneously by people working from home, while there is one person in the office ploughing their way through opening a mountain of post heaped on the DVLA doormat!

He/she should complain that they want to work from home as well.

@HunkyPunk Hopefully will be coming through very soon. DD's postal bit was sent off 12 July and we got her license 2 weeks ago.

Very frustrated with them! I've been trying to get through for weeks but just get the recorded message.

DS applied for his provisional in May. The form came out to us fairly quickly for DS to sign and attach photos. In fairness it took us a while to send back - we posted it early July I think? Nothing for months until DS randomly received a cheque refund in the post a couple of weeks back. No email, no accompanying letter, no explanation whatsoever! And they still have his photos 😖

I've given up on the helpline and done a new application & will have to fork out for more photos (pic on DS's passport is a good few years old and he doesn't want it on his ID, otherwise I assume that would be a bit quicker). It's DS's birthday next month and we thought 6 months would be plenty of time to get his license back so he could start lessons asap - doubt it will happen in time now 🙁

He/she should complain that they want to work from home as well.

Thanks Teen 🤞
Hope everyone waiting hears soon. What a nightmare to have to go through it all again, Susan 😕

I did I just kept redialing till I got put into the hold queue. Took me about an hour to actually speak to someone. I’m not sure it helped though they can only tell you what is on the online portal.

We are in the same position and hoping they don't lose the application because we had to send DD1's birth certificate off as her passport was out of date.

It's a bloody nightmare. I got sucked into a black hole of despair when I tried to apply for a new license with both a new photo and a change of name and a change of address all at once. The system imploded and then threw back an old health issue from over a decade ago that my GP was then paid to write a report on. From a decade ago. About a minor health issue that had already been reported on, investigated and recorded. At the time.

I tried so many times to get through. So many numbers. So many ways.

It was completely baffling. It took five months for my license to arrive... and then it had the wrong address on it 🙈

Sent mine 7th august with my marriage certificate so awful.

I need my marriage certificate! Let alone my licence.

DS had a request for up to date photo at the end of May. All sent back. Got his actual licence through on sept 4th

We are also waiting. What I find frustrating is that when ds checks his application it says waiting for paperwork (or something) and when I check the overall application thing it says they are still processing paper applications from a date before he submitted his application. Does this mean his has arrived, but is just sitting in a sack somewhere unopened or it never arrived? Don’t know if we should send everything again or wait another few weeks to discover they have lost the letter.

An application for a provisional all done online and with no extra paperwork or photos required still took over 5 weeks to be processed this Summer.

@TheHomeEdit

We are also waiting. What I find frustrating is that when ds checks his application it says waiting for paperwork (or something) and when I check the overall application thing it says they are still processing paper applications from a date before he submitted his application. Does this mean his has arrived, but is just sitting in a sack somewhere unopened or it never arrived? Don’t know if we should send everything again or wait another few weeks to discover they have lost the letter.

This is exactly what happened to ds and prompted me to contact the MP in desperation! He apparently had a direct line to the DVLA and made enquiries on our behalf which did at least confirm that the photo ds sent in had arrived and was awaiting processing. Who knows what that means or when it will happen, but we worked out that if the approx, date that our MP was given for completion is correct, it will have taken 17 weeks from submission of the original application.

@TheHomeEdit

We are also waiting. What I find frustrating is that when ds checks his application it says waiting for paperwork (or something) and when I check the overall application thing it says they are still processing paper applications from a date before he submitted his application. Does this mean his has arrived, but is just sitting in a sack somewhere unopened or it never arrived? Don’t know if we should send everything again or wait another few weeks to discover they have lost the letter.

It says 'waiting for paperwork' until they actually get round to opening your letter and processing it. Then it turns to 'license issued' and license turns up a few days later. or at least that's what happened with us.

See also www.mumsnet.com/Talk/teenagers/4269707-Anyone-waiting-for-a-provisional-driving-licence

Thanks @TeenMinusTests and @HunkyPunk - we will just keep waiting and I will stop asking teen if he’s sure he posted the letter!

All this, and yet so many on mumsnet are "more productive" working from home.

Wonder how many on here preaching that work for the DVLA

They're a disgrace. Took a day and a half for me to get through b

The DVLA have also been taking industrial action, aimed at maximum disruption to the public.

Hate to quote the DM but they had a long article on this at the weekend.

Nope can’t get through. Need my licence which I have to renew on medical grounds every 3 years
They have replied once to tell me they can’t deal with me via email only phone but I can’t get through
No idea if they received my application/ old licence sent before the first lockdown

My dd is having a nightmare getting her provisional, it has been well over a year! She has a minor eye condition, sent reports from her ophthalmologist but they wouldn’t accept that and wanted their own report so she had to go to an optician, then they wanted her gp to report (who has never seen dd for her eye condition) so paid for that, now they’ve just sent her a form to fill out for a heart condition ??! Which she doesn’t have! Don’t think she’s ever been able to reach someone on the phone, it’s getting rather ridiculous.

@girlsyearapart

Nope can’t get through. Need my licence which I have to renew on medical grounds every 3 years They have replied once to tell me they can’t deal with me via email only phone but I can’t get through No idea if they received my application/ old licence sent before the first lockdown

Contact your MP. Mine said he’d had lots of complaints. If you can give them a ref. no. they seem to be able to find out what stage the application’s at and get an approximate date for completion. In any case it’s great to be able to get it all off your chest to someone who’s going to have to be sympathetic and helpful!

@poorbuthappy

We are in the same position and hoping they don't lose the application because we had to send DD1's birth certificate off as her passport was out of date.

@poorbuthappy we're in the same boat as DDs passport expired the week before we applied and photo out of date anyway.

Posted it 3rd week of August but online portal still says 'awaiting paperwork'. I assume that's just because they've not opened it yet buy I can't get hold of anyone to ask.

We've had a driving instructor lined up since bloody May as well!

@HunkyPunk thanks. I’ll give that a try. The only time I’ve actually managed to get a different message over the phone other than the we are too busy to answer was when the recording said they weren’t answering due to industrial action