Expired driving licence

[marshartist]

Not mine- but some advice for a relative who has just discovered that their driving license expired (just the standard 10 year renewal thing) a few days ago. Apparently they did not receive (or missed?) reminder in the post. They have now applied to renew it online - no issues re medical conditions or change of details etc- the question is can they still drive even when it’s expired as long as the application has been received by the DVLA? It’s because it says it is going to take up to 2 weeks potentially… the Gov guidance is a bit unclear on this if your licence has already just expired.

Its not their licence that's expired, just the photo card. Still fine to drive.

It’s not the licence that expires, just the photocard. Your friend still has a licence. If they’re stopped by police there will be no issue as it’ll be checked on the PNC, even if you have a valid photocard.

nothing to worry about at all

You don't get a reminder, I used to when I had a medical restriction on there but not since they cancelled that

No and if anything happens then it’s a £1000 fine or something. But… I drove on an expired license for 3 years 🫣 because I’m an idiot and didn’t ever look at the date. Never had any incidents or accidents so nothing ever happened. It only matters if she needs to submit her license.

However, in the UK, you don’t need to carry your license and have two weeks to present it at a police station if asked for it. So, she can just say it’s been sent off for renewal (without mentioning that it was expired) and then give them the new on when it arrives, they’ll never see the old one and never know it was expired.

I've always had a reminder. Dh too. I renewed mine last year.

This is not true. Not since we switched to fully photo license. We don’t have paper licenses anymore. If your photo card is expired then it is illegal to drive and results in a £1000 fine.
But it only matters if she gets pulled over, and you don’t need to carry your license in the UK so it won’t matter.

No. Without a valid photo card license it is illegal to drive.

Those saying its not an issue are wrong. You can receive a fine of £1000 for not renewing your licence.
Your friend is fine now it has been renewed though, the website tells you that you can continue to drive while you wait for the new one to arrive

You are incorrect. I'm not talking about paper licences. I'm taking about the person's ability to drive, that is still valid. If a PNC check was carried out they would be fine.

You are wrong. It is illegal to drive without a valid license. If your card is expired you do not have a valid license.

I got a reminder in the post about a week ago, so definitely still a thing.

20+ years operational police experience and I’ve yet to see someone charged with it.

In the UK there’s no requirement o carry your licence, Nowhere on your licence info on PNC is there any information about your photocard…you’d have to seriously fail the attitude test if you had cause to be stopped and you ended up being charged with it.

Stop scaremongering

Not true! I had my reminder last week.

I literally said all of that so how am I scaremongering? You are saying that there is no issue at all, which is factually not correct. You are saying it is totally legal to drive. It is not. It is an offence which carries a fine of £1000 if caught. That’s nothing to do with how likely it is to get caught but IF CAUGHT.

You do get reminders. I had one when my photo card was due for renewal a few weeks ago. I did last time too. No medical restrictions on me.

Anyway, the licence is still valid. Only the photo card has expired. As long as you have got the renewal application in and it is underway then you can still drive. They'll only stop you if you just continue to ignore it and that clearly hasn't happened here.

I was threatened with this £1000 fine for not renewing even though I don't even drive. (Ie even just having an expired photo pass is a finable offence, no need to actually drive with it.

This was the dvla advice line. My only other option (to renewing) was to give up my licence. So I just renewed it as simpler.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64edcf3a13ae1500116e2f5d/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla.pdf

Yes the points raised here are where the confusion was. Advice on website does seem to suggest that it is ok (barring certain criteria) as long as you’ve sent off your renewal application …