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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to expect a refund for my ID card?

63 replies

chicaguapa · 27/05/2010 18:35

DH and I both have ID cards, we spent £60 on them and have only had them for 2 months!!

I am absolutely furious at Teresa May's comment that we can at least keep our ID cards as a souvenir! No doubt, as the majority of the 15,000 people who paid for one in good faith and had it taken away from them and not receiving a refund for the pleasure is in the North West, she doesn't give a shit.

Ok so they don't want to spend any more money on it. But everyone who had one was voluntarily on that database so why scrap it altogether and make them completely invalid, wasting our money and what they've spent so far?

And they're keeping quiet about all the people who they employed who will now be losing their jobs. I really want to do something about this but don't know where to start.

OP posts:
frakkit · 27/05/2010 19:58

TheCrackFox for me:

  • ease of European travel
  • having an alternative piece of identity to a passport
FakePlasticTrees · 27/05/2010 20:06

Life lesson learned the hard way, you don't waste your money on stuff you don't really need that isn't a pair of shoes. (and FFS - do you not think the government take enough of your money without handing over an extra £60???)

BeenBeta · 27/05/2010 20:11

I have been waiting 3 years for the election and Tory Govt before getting a new passport. I wanted to avoid the new advanced biometric passport.

Thankfuly, I see they are plannning to get rid of Second-generation biometric passports alongside the ID cards and the National Identity Register.

Read full detail here.

fembear · 27/05/2010 20:14

Another unsympathetic here. ID cards were yet another erosion of our civil liberties under Labour and it serves you right for colluding in their introduction.

midnightexpress · 27/05/2010 20:22

Yep, YABU, I'm afraid, for buying one in the first place - it was obvious ages ago that anyone apart from Labour would get rid of them. As for carrying your passport around - why do you do that? You don't have to carry ID on you in this country.

Original poster
chicaguapa · 27/05/2010 20:38

Before people state IABU, please read the whole thread!

  1. We were told by the passport office that the ID cards would still be valid under a new Government
  2. They cost £30, DH and I have one each

Interesting theory though that I and everyone else should lose their money on the basis that you wouldn't get one in a million years!

Wish I had spent it on shoes now.

OP posts:
Tidey · 27/05/2010 20:42

I'm sorry you've lost money, and it would be a gesture of goodwill for them to refund it, but I can't see them doing it. Would second midnightexpress's question - why would you need to carry around any form of ID? I don't know anyone who takes their passport everywhere, they cost too much to replace to do that, would be worried it would get lost.

Sassybeast · 27/05/2010 20:43

I'd have spent it on shoes yes YABU.

JackBauer · 27/05/2010 21:32

Yes but they weren't compulsory. If it was a new passport that you need to go abroad so you had to pay then you would be entitled to your money back but it's not. You didn't need one.

FakePlasticTrees · 27/05/2010 22:05

Midnightexpress - you're so right, i like that I don't need to carry ID.

And i like that lots of MNers agree with me that shoes are better than ID cards...

Portofino · 27/05/2010 22:15

Are they valid for travel within Europe? My (compulsory) Belgian ID card is. If it has just turned into white elephant YANBU.

Original poster
chicaguapa · 27/05/2010 23:16

Yes, they were valid for travel within Europe. We are going to France on Monday and making sure we take them to get some use out of them!

It's easy ID to have to hand and you never know when you are going to be asked to produce it. I had to have photo ID in Sainsburys when I decided on the spur of the moment to register for fast track. I had to go to the bank on the day I moved to withdraw a large amount of money to pay the removals and just used my ID card in my purse.

Like Tidey says, passports are expensive and hard to replace. Mine is always in a safe place at home and a pain to have to get out to take to the bank or wherever and then I have to remember to put it back. I also never liked having to take mine out with me on holiday and preferred the idea of an ID card. You have to show photo ID in some countries to be able to use a credit card when shopping. It's much easier to take one ID card on holiday instead of a passport to get into the country AND the photo part of your driving licence for shopping (so you can use it to buy shoes ).

The fact of the matter is that it's costing the Government millions to renage on contracts with various providers involved with the scheme. The £500k it would have cost to refund the money to people who bought them in good faith and were mislead about the continuing validity in a new Government is peanuts in comparison.

It's not even the amount tbh, just the dismissive attitude.

OP posts:
SpiderObsession · 28/05/2010 10:22

chicaguapa I'm sure the passport office believed they would still be valid. What they said was in good faith.

I thought the "souvenir" comment was very funny but only from the perspective that I didn't pay for one. In your shoes I'd feel the same way! So based on their dismissive attitude YANBU.

Downdog · 28/05/2010 10:30

You volunteered, for what reasons I cannot imagine! Who carries their passport with them unless they are travelling anyway? There is no need to do that in the UK. Buyer beware!

It seems that you have been duped by incoming government - maybe you can use the Sale of Goods act against them as cleary they aren't 'fit for purpose' (not sure if you can used SoG Act against govt though? - research required)

I'm glad it's been scrapped - stupid, flawed and expensive idea.

PrettyCandles · 28/05/2010 10:35

But don't you need to take your passport in any case, in order to get back into the UK?

Megatron · 28/05/2010 11:22

Sorry, I think YABU. Your reasons for getting it are your own personal choice which is fair enough, but you knew it was possible/likely that there was going to be a change of government when you got the card and that both the conservatives and the lib dems made no secret of their plans for them.

EricNorthmansmistress · 28/05/2010 11:31

YWBU to have got an ID card in the first place!

ILovePlayingDarts · 28/05/2010 11:36

The passport office was extremely naive and irresponsible to say that ID cards would be valid under a new government.

They would only ever be valid if that new government supported the ID cards, or indeed any piece of legislation.

Yes, it will need legislation passing to scarp the scheme, but every time there's a change of government, schemes supported by the previous administration get the chop.

If all the political parties had said they supported the ID schemes, it might have been sensible to get a card. But with only Labour supporting the scheme, it was obvious that getting rid of ID cards would be a priority if a new administration took over.

WingedVictory · 28/05/2010 11:38

Sorry, I think that's money lost. Even if the government wanted to refund ID card fees, there's no way they would get away with it, with all the other cuts needed. It's just not politically feasible, particularly as it's "only" £30 each (a lot to some people, but presumably in your case you could afford it, as you had the card to duplicate your passport?).

As for spending money on things which can be made illegal/ made no longer compulsory/ expropriated by a country's government, this does happen in business in emerging markets, and it seems to be widely accepted that it is impossible to get governments to pay up. The very existence of political risk insurance means this is accepted, and people just have to get on with it. Our politics are much more consensual and less prone to violent swings, so we tend to forget about this sort of risk.

nickelbabe · 28/05/2010 11:42

it makes no sense that the ones already bought aren't valid!
that's just stupid and shows a lack of foresight.

the government should pledge that the ones already issued are to be valid as a proper form of ID until they expire.

ditto with HIPS - if you've paid for one, you should get one.

MrsWobbleTheWaitress · 28/05/2010 11:47

YABU

Shit happens, governments change. If they scrap tax credits and/or child benefit will you be paying back the stuff they paid you in the past?

Where do you think they'll find the money to refund all the numpties who voluntarily gave the goverment all their info to put on a database and paid for the privelege!?

Bad luck, and bad judgement.

EricNorthmansmistress · 28/05/2010 11:48

Get a driver's license. The photocard is valid ID and costs £20ish to replace if you lose it. Mine lives in my wallet in case I ever need ID. I would not carry my expensive passport around or pay £30 for an alternative form of ID as i already have a very useful one. Boggles my mind why you would buy one voluntarily.

Callisto · 28/05/2010 12:33

Bloke on R4 yesterday talking about how wonderful ID cards are/were. His reasons: he could travel around Europe on it (I can already do that with my passport thanks) and he could, erm, open a bank account up, although he needed a proof of address too. So I couldn't see any benefit to having one. He then went on to say that if ID cards had been compulsory he wouldn't have got one...

FWIW I think you're being hugely unreasonable. The country is deeply in debt. Why should you get your money back for something that you voluntarily paid for?

Lonnie · 28/05/2010 12:44

OP

What does the trading standards law says? I belive it is something to do with resonable use for what you pay for. Did you pay by Credit / Debit card? You may be able to get your money back that way.

I would contact a CAB and see what they say.

SexyDomesticatedDad · 28/05/2010 12:51

ID cards themselves / compulsory waste of money. If you have a passport - could there be an option to have an ID style card that uses all the same details / same passport number so it could be used to travel in Europe (more convenient) and as an option for those that wanted it.

Could rationalise the amount of duplication too by using same card for drivers licenses - one card does it all! Would not need so many civil servants to run all the admin needed etc so in theory costs would go down (doubt it would though).

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