£1000 Fine For Expired Photocard Licences Add our number plates site to your favourites       VAT Reduced!
Send this page to a friend!
Carreg - Private Number Plates, Car Registrations.
Make your own 'Number Plates'. Buying private number plates from Car Reg is both safe & secure. Personalised chat in our car registrations forum. Carreg, agents and dealers of cherished number plates. Finding your car registration plates. Selling car registrations, try here. The DVLA - behind all private car number plates. Enquiries for all personal car registration numbers can be made here. Have you got a website? Make money from number plates Users online: 109









Call us for assistance or BUY ONLINE NOW!
We're listed on ShopSafe

Click to verify

Member of all governing bodies

£1000 FINE FOR EXPIRED PHOTOCARD LICENCES

Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines from DVLA as thousands of photocard driving licences expire

Thousands of motorists risk being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.

They have failed to spot that their photocard licence automatically expires after ten years and has to be renewed.

Motoring organisations said most drivers believed, wrongly, that their new-style licence was for life and blamed the Government for the fiasco.  

A mock-up driving licence from 1998 when the photocards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b'

They said officials had failed to publicise the fact that photocard licences  -  unlike the old paper ones  -  expire after a set period and must be renewed.

Drivers have to pay £17.50 to renew their card,which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.

The first batch of ten-year photo licences was issued in July 1998, and the confusion has come to light as they start to expire.

DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.

With another 300,000 photocard licences due to expire over the coming year, the number of invalid licences could soar. A total of 25million have been issued.

At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the credit card-size photo licence. Just below the driver's name is a numbered series of dates and details.  

4b: The small print on the back of the driving licence is easy to miss

Number '4b' features a date in tiny writing but the significance is explained only if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'.

Even more confusingly, a table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence  -  that is until their 70th birthday.

Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving but the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.

 The DVLA said yesterday that the date of expiry was carried on the new-style licences, but was unable to say whether motorists were told the licences would expire when they were first issued.

A spokesman said: 'It is important that photocards are updated every ten years to ensure the police and other enforcement agencies can identify whether a driving licence is being used fraudulently.'

The agency is sending reminders to drivers whose photocard is due to expire, and no one has so far been charged with failing to surrender their licence.

The Association of British Insurers and the Department for Transport said that insurance cover was not affected if drivers failed to update their photocard.



NEWS ARCHIVE

 Over 35 million personalised number plates available on this website. We can supply most car registrations on  government certificate issued by Driver And Vehicle Licensing Agency Swansea which will be valid for 12 months. All number plates and car registrations we supply can be transferred via The Driver And Vehicle Licensing Agency by us, our customers or our trading partners. Some registrations offered originate from DVLA Government stock.

Legal Notice: ©1988 - 2008 All contents of this site are the property of Classic Enterprises (UK) LTD - Please Note: DVLA is a registered trade mark of the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency. Classic Enterprises (UK) LTD is in no way affiliated to the DVLA. Classic Enterprises (UK) LTD is a registered frequent buyer of DVLA registrations. Classic Enterprises (UK) LTD is a registered DVLA number plates supplier (No: 27154). Terms & Conditions

www.CARREG.co.uk   Private Number Plates since 1988

Welcome to Carreg.co.uk private number plates, over the last 20 years we have supplied the public and the trade with some of the best car registrations available in the UK. Our personalised number plates database has grown over the years into one of the best in our industry with all available number plates under one roof on one website. We also have over 500 top quality private registrations in stock at any one time from the basic make your own number plates to the expensive none dated personalised registrations which may be over one hundred years old. We are said to be the most secure registration number dealers, we are members of Cherished Numbers Dealers Association, RMIF, Members Institute Registration Agents Dealers and also members of FSB and the Registration Numbers Club. We are recognised frequent buyers of DVLA registrations and DVLA registered number plates suppliers. We buy from all registration auctions around the UK and provide number plate auction information

If you can not find your ideal private plates via our database search (top left) please try our plate finder where we have an alphabetical list of all number plates.

Registered DVLA Number Plates Supplier || Recognised Reseller Of DVLA Registrations

Please also see other advice and help for actual Registration Plates, Personal Registration Plate, Car Registrations & Number Plate Information