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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be pissed of with the DVLA for wanting an updated photo licence

41 replies

gingerfrizz · 20/04/2012 07:18

What a great money making wheeze they've got going - it's going to cost me £20 to renew my licence just because they want a new fucking photo. Does anybody else get annoyed about this or is it just me?

OP posts:

Original poster

gingerfrizz · 20/04/2012 07:20

pissed off even -sorry, tired, just got in from work

OP posts:

violathing · 20/04/2012 07:25

yes every ten years, did mine last year but DH hasn't bothered - keep telling him he should as you can get a big fine can't you? Money for old rope, £20.00 dos not seem reasonable and proportionate

JustHecate · 20/04/2012 07:26

Well, to be fair, a person can change a lot in 10 years. There's little point having a photo id that looks very little like you.

And it costs money to produce one.

However, it should be less than it is, because I seriously doubt it costs anything close to £20.

ToothbrushThief · 20/04/2012 07:27

The reason is because of the scrotes who drive without a licence and when stopped, show someone else's and give false details.

Society is paying the cost of policing them

Geordieminx · 20/04/2012 07:27

Aye, and £49 to renew ds's passport because he is 5! Grr

Mishy1234 · 20/04/2012 07:29

YANBU.

I recently renewed mine and thought £20 was excessive. Saying that, it does cost money to produce and process, but I don't think it could be as much as £20!

Mishy1234 · 20/04/2012 07:30

GeordieMix - oh yes, the extortionate passport charges. I was going to get them for the children as I thought it would be good just in case we needed to go abroad at short notice (we usually holiday in the UK). Took one look at the charges and decided against it!

ripsishere · 20/04/2012 07:31

YANBU. I was astonished to find out they did this. In my defence I'd been out of the country for 12 years.
I would be very surprised to find out they cost more than a couple of quid to produce.
Geordie - I agree with you too. My DDs cost roughly double that though, it was made overseas. The British embassy's are a total ripoff.
I stood and watched while they made her first one. It took about 5 minutes from start to finish.

mayaswell · 20/04/2012 07:31

If you've got a biometric passport they've got your photo already so you can renew it online and it's very easy. Can't help with a money saving tip unfortunately.

RustyBear · 20/04/2012 07:34

If ther's such a need for an updated photo, why can I still drive with out a photo on my licence at all?

Greeata · 20/04/2012 07:35

It's not so much the money for me - it's the fact that I now look 25 years older than I did ten years ago. I'd pay £50 to keep my old, not looking like my 67 year old mother, pre-children photo. .

TheCunningStunt · 20/04/2012 07:36

I don't think it's too bad. If you move house isn't it free to get issued a new one with new address in it? Passports however are extortionate

Catsmamma · 20/04/2012 07:37

passports and driving licences are a huge revenue raiser for the government!

bastards

Rindercella · 20/04/2012 07:42

YABU. For the reasons stated above.

And the taxpayer has just spent many many millions on upgraded systems at the DVLA (for once a successful public sector IT project!). They have got to pay for that somehow.

StanleyLambchop · 20/04/2012 07:43

If it is a legal requirement that you have an up to date photo to prevent fraud, how come a proportion of the country, myself included, are still driving under a pink paper licence with no photo at all? That makes no sense, it makes me believe it is about money from the renewal fee after all.

Catsmamma · 20/04/2012 07:47

Stanley, it's not a legal requirement to HAVE a photo, hence the paper licenses, which last until you are 70, ( or 75??) are still perfectly valid, however the photocard licence has an expiry date, and thus expires forcing an early renewal so it's a stealth tax!

again I say Bastards

SofaKing · 20/04/2012 07:47

Yanbu. I have a provisional which is ten years old and they have threatened me with a fine if I don't pay for a new photo.
Its a provisional fgs, I cqnt drive and it isn't accepted anywhere as proof of Id. Dh has an old paper provisional and no one is chasing him to renew it, I wish I had a paper one too!

SofaKing · 20/04/2012 07:48

I can't drive even!

learningtofly · 20/04/2012 07:50

Passport fees are the main reason I haven't renewed mine since it expired 2 years ago. Given we can't afford a foreign holiday I can't justify the expense.

Some post offices take the photo for you for a driving licence saving the 5 quid passport photo booths cost (i think there may be a small fee though) its just one of those things - can't get around it. If you have a paper licence and change your details (address etc) you have to switch to a photo one

MsVestibule · 20/04/2012 07:51

Greeata, I couldn't agree more. Passport photo taken pre-children - quite attractive. Photo taken 5 years later, post two DCs in 20 months - fecking horrendous. AND I only had to change it cos I got married and changed my name. I TOLD DH that he should change his name to mine, but would he listen ?

marriedinwhite · 20/04/2012 07:55

You can keep the paper licence unless you have to make an essential change to your details, ie, your name or your address. At that point you are obliged to upgrade to a photocard one. I was recently involved in an accident and the police ticked me off and said I needed a photocard licence and should go and get one but when I explained that I understood a paper licence was valid if there had been no change to my personal details since it was last issued they backed down straight away. But they were "you realise you shouldn't be using this and if I hadn't known the facts, I would have have felt I had to get a new one".

porcamiseria · 20/04/2012 08:50

hardly money making!!!! can you imagine the manpower to get this processed and approved? and the back up systems that are in place

BoboksAndCot · 20/04/2012 09:02

It's not fair! I'm much fatter than I was 10 years ago! And don't even get me started on using my biometric passport photo, just looking at it makes me want to cry!

MadameChinLegs · 20/04/2012 09:03

Ive just had to do mine and think £20 is excessive. Also annoying is that to change just the photo I can go to the post office who will take the photo and send it off however I got married last year so thought I might aswell change the surname under the same charge but the post office told me I have to post it off, they cant process that there. So what was an easyish task turned challenging.

I had to send marriage certificate and a cheque when I dont even have a bloody cheque book and get a little photo done. Had some spares in with my passport so have sent one if them but think the phoyo itself is at least three years old so sort of defeats the object.

Aribura · 20/04/2012 10:40

SofaKing I used my provisional as ID and it was always accepted!

I think £20 isn't excessive at all every 10 years, actually. Every year, maybe. I should also point out that I don't even have a stable income at the moment, who knows what you lot have to complain about.

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