Absolutely fuming with renewing driving license.

[Gettingbysomehow]

AIBU?
Fucking government online licence renewing site won't accept my photo because I've lost 5 stone and my face is thinner than the rest of my IDs. I assume that's what it is they refuse to tell you and after three attempts you are out.
I have to do it online because I've had major surgery and can't drive yet.
I'll lose my job if I go back without a driving license - it's compulsory.
The nearest post office to me that does it is 10 miles away in a warren of streets with no parking and there is literally nobody to take me.
What the fuck am I supposed to do then?
Excuse the swearing I'm just so stressed.
I've just had equal shit applying for my blue badge and that's going to take 3 months to process.
I'm trying to get better so I can return to work and it's just stress and more stress.

You can download a form online and send it to the DVLA. I did that when I moved house

If your job depends on it on you can't do it online then surely that's what you need to do?

Alternatively, as you are disabled, is there a community support/transport organisation near you that you could use?

You can get the form sent to your house?

And we wonder why younger people are so stressed, our grandparents just had paper licences and none of this hassle (yes, they had to update addresses etc, but not with the kind of hassle we have now).
Other than saying be born a long time ago and never move house (because they'd make you get a photo one), no helpful suggestions-just sympathy!

Blue badge . I just go to my local council with photo and ID and form. Pay my tenner.. it's sent to me 3 days later.

You can also do the passport photos online and get them printed and sent to you, and pay via cheque (order a cheque book if needed).

I live in the middle of nowhere, if the op is the same then bus/train isn’t an option and a taxi costs so much as they have to come to you in the first place!

Just ring up the DVLA and they'll post you a paper form.

Fill it in, attach photo, post it back.

Also my blue badge (first application and also the renewals) only take 7-10 days so I can’t imagine yours will be 3 months!

Yep it’s simple - Royal Mail will even collect it from your house if you book a collection. Am I missing something? This is all very dramatic reaction over something solved so easily.

I suggest you google 'volunteer drivers 'area'

mist areas have a group of volunteer drivers to get people to mostly medical appointments, but they'd also do this if they could.

if you can't find it by googling/using Nextdoor app. Then ask at your surgery.

they do charge (here anyway) but it's a few quid towards fuel, taxi woukd be £25-£30. Group £6.

if you live local to me, I'd happily take you (I'm in a GU postcode).

bedt if luck with getting the ships back in the Fuad! It's not easy 🤗

I've been told with my council to expect it to be 3 months.

That's nice for you.

not with ours. Online only & 3 month wait.

So you’ve made up a reason and have decided that’s what it is. Try phoning them

Seems to be your photo is not quite right despite your wonderful weight drop. Is it your image or your inner David Bailey that is the problem? Calm down and resubmit.

Oh yes Of course, sorry I forgot it was a council thing so could be different in different areas! I was thinking it was government thing

This!

DH’s blue badge was delayed and then delayed again, we contacted our MP and lo and behold it arrived within days.

That sounds a similar price for taxis as where I am in Dorset. There are very few Ubers. From the train station in Bournemouth to the airport is about £35 and it’s less than 6 miles. Taxis to quite rural places I need to go to can be really expensive but the public transport doesn’t always work out feasible.

@Gettingbysomehow sorry you’re having such a trying time. It does sound like a postal renewal might be an option if someone can get the form to you. Hope you can do that before spending so much on taxi fares.

You’ll need to pay it cos it’s better than what you’d lose if you got fired from your job

Mine wouldn’t accept my photo online either and I haven’t changed at all. When I went into the post office to renew it in person they said it’s quite common for the online system not to work so it might not be your weight loss.

Wow. Where I am, you have to front up in person every 1, 2, 3 or 5 years (depending on both your experience and driving record), show you are the person on the ID and pass an eye test before they renew your license. Once past a certain age, you need a form from GP as well stating no medical impediment to driving and you need to retake your driving test at periods (but I think no fee for it). We still have the occasional batshit old driver who goes the wrong way down a motorway and causes havoc, but it does reduce the problem significantly.

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.

There is a local charity where I live that will give lifts to people who need it for a nominal sum. Check this out with your GP who maybe able to sign post you.

This is the advice I was going to give!
My DD needed to use the D1 form, I called DVLA and asked if they could send me it, they did.
It is slightly annoying that if your circumstances are slightly out of the norm then you can't do some things online... seems the whole PO system needs a bit of an update.