Can't get a passport or driving licence

[NoPoshMates]

NC for obvious reasons.

I'm getting really worried about my driving licence. It's still the old paper sort, but I've moved house and married since it was issued. I can now afford to send off for the photocard version, but since the new type came in, I haven't known anyone who's qualified to countersign it. I was born in England, as were my parents, but I can't get a passport for the same reason.

Two years ago I only knew 2 friends who were not relations and they are not 'posh enough' for the DVLA or Passport Office - a barmaid and the unemployed wife of a train driver. Literally just those two people, no acquaintances or anything.

I am a shy person and up to last year I rarely went out (for about 20 years) because we had no money. Although I have some more friends now, I only met them when we moved here a year ago and I don't know them well enough to expect them to lie for me, and I wouldn't want to do something like that anyway.

I'm worried sick that my driving licence isn't legal, and I want to put it right, but what can I do? I can't stop driving because my DH is disabled.

I managed to get married without needing a passport or driving licence. And I honestly don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to drive or leave the country, just because I don't have any friends who are librarians or magistrates.

What can I do?

[Dodie66]

How long have you had it? Mine is a paper one and it doesn’t expire till I’m 70

[tolerable]

do you use the local post office regularly.im lucky enough to have the worlds greatest post master-and he signed mine.x

[IWantMyHatBack]

Yemen

"Professions that are not accepted
Your countersignatory cannot:

work for HM Passport Office
be a doctor, unless they state that they know you well (for example they’re a good friend) and that they recognise you easily from your photo"

[15YemenRoad]

@TheInvestigator Yes, they know her as just a customer so I hope OP can also find some luck with her local pharmacy if they know her well enough.

It's just a matter of asking around for OP I think.

[NoPoshMates]

Thanks, all for your suggestions and advice. My problem is, having moved here a year ago, I have lost contact with any business people/non-friends, not that I can think of any suitable ones. And my new contacts are still too new. I will try phoning the passport office to see if a train driver is acceptable. My children's friends is a good suggestion, and I will rack my brain to think if any of them might do.

@15YemenRoad

Also I have to point out that your username is fucking ridiculous.

No, you really don't have to; you're choosing to take offence over nothing. Ridiculous usernames are one of the joys of MN. My username is a short version of my problem, so I know which ID I used for this thread. And before you get into a froth about social class, I come from a family of teachers and nurses so I have no issue with professional status. I just wish I knew some of the teachers and nurses they work with - but I don't.

[PancakeAndKeith]

the list of who can sign passport photographs is huge - it doesn't need to be a friend, just someone who can recognise you and meets the minimum period that they've known you for

It is a long list. However with the exception of my teaching colleagues there is no one on that list that I know who I could ask.
Before I qualified as a teacher there would have been no one.

Every time this comes around there are so many MNers who cannot understand that many people simply don’t have people on that list in their social circle.

[Amber2018]

In an assistant manager in a shop and I've signed for people with no issues. So if you know any managers or assistant managers they can do it

[PickAChew]

I got an ancient paper provisional license turned into a picture one, a couple of years ago, as i needed to apply for a mortgage and didn't have a passport. I did need someone to countersign for that, not having passport. A friend who was a retired teacher did it for me.

Ironically, I countersigned DH's, passport, before he became DP!

[15YemenRoad]

@NoPoshMates It came across as you had a problem with professionals that is all and assumed they are posh because of it. That is how I took it and I stand corrected.

Furthermore, no one is "frothing", goodness, it just came across as unwarranted as being a professional does not make you posh and I am not the only person to comment on that.

Nonetheless, hope you get it sorted.

[pigsDOfly]

Haven't read the whole thread so sorry if someone's already suggested this, but if you know the barmaid, do you know the licencee of the pub, I'm pretty sure they can sign it.

As pp said, it's not just professionals. There's a list online of people who qualify.

[YetAnotherThing]

You mention your kids are adults. Any friends of theirs that you know from their teenage years, now with suitable jobs?

[Justaboy]

I use our local chemist/pharmacist and have never had a problem you must have someone around like that surely?.

I believe that the local postmaster or post counter propriter can do it too!.

[JudefromJersey]

@15YemenRoad: that was my all time favourite episode of Friends. I can still hear Janice repeating it incredulously.

[NoPoshMates]

No, I don't know the owner of the pub, and have no medical contacts. As I said, we were very poor, so we just couldn't afford luxuries like new glasses or dental treatment or paying for prescriptions, let alone doing it so regularly that the pharmacist etc got to know us. We only managed to pay off the electricity bill by selling the house - a social network of friends was out of the question. You don't keep friends if your answer to every invitation is, "I can't afford it." Not looking for sympathy, just explaining why effectively I have had to start from scratch in building friendships since we moved.

[PoppingOneOutIn2020]

Ypure telling me you dont know someone with a single one of these jobs? 47+ occupations.

Even a retired person with one of these professions? It can even be a neighbour..

[NoPoshMates]

I know a few of them NOW... but not for two years, as required. Two years ago, as I stated, I knew 2 people, other than relatives.

[Mykingdomforanickname]

OP, I seem to remember reading another thread along these lines where someone said she had no one nearby she had known for over 2 years because she had moved to her current address less than 2 years ago. I recall that she said she phoned the passport office who said that in the circumstances she could use a countersignatory who she had known for less than 2 years. Perhaps worth phoning up and asking?

[WorraLiberty]

In an assistant manager in a shop and I've signed for people with no issues. So if you know any managers or assistant managers they can do it

Not if they're not on the list they can't.

Simply being a shop manager or assistant manager doesn't meet the criteria.

[ilovepixie]

I got mine signed by the local post office manager.

[WorraLiberty]

Recognised professions
Examples of recognised professions include:

accountant
airline pilot
articled clerk of a limited company
assurance agent of recognised company
bank or building society official
barrister
chairman or director of a limited company
chiropodist
commissioner for oaths
councillor, for example local or county
civil servant (permanent)
dentist
director, manager or personnel officer of a VAT-registered company
engineer with professional qualifications
financial services intermediary, for example a stockbroker or insurance broker
fire service official
funeral director
insurance agent (full time) of a recognised company
journalist
Justice of the Peace
legal secretary (fellow or associate member of the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs)
licensee of a public house
local government officer
manager or personnel officer of a limited company
member, associate or fellow of a professional body
Member of Parliament
Merchant Navy officer
minister of a recognised religion (including Christian Science)
nurse (RGN or RMN)
officer of the armed services
optician
paralegal (certified paralegal, qualified paralegal or associate member of the Institute of Paralegals)
person with honours, for example an OBE or MBE
pharmacist
photographer (professional)
police officer
Post Office official
president or secretary of a recognised organisation
Salvation Army officer
social worker
solicitor
surveyor
teacher or lecturer
trade union officer
travel agent (qualified)
valuer or auctioneer (fellow or associate members of the incorporated society)
Warrant Officers and Chief Petty Officers

[Nottobesoldseparately]

If you have a car, presumably you take it to a mechanic?
They can sign.

Your family members who are nurses and teachers?
Do they all have the same surname as you? If not, get one of them to sign.

Self employed? Get one of your clients to sign.

[IsobelRae23]

Facebook friends? I have all my old friends from school on Facebook, and well over half are in a professional career so would be able to sign. When I had to get my sons done quickly, as in the day we had the photos done, I phoned a friend/old neighbour who was a social worker and she popped in on her way to the gym to do it for me. Anyone like that you can think of?

[taylorowmu]

If you have a car, presumably you take it to a mechanic?
They can sign

A mechanic?

[MagneticSingularity]

It says examples of recognized professions not ‘these are the only professions we recognize’. All you need is someone of good character , respectable and in a position of responsibility or authority and managers and supervisors certainly come that umbrella.

[Pollywollydolly]

What about your children, do they have partners or friends that would sign it for you?