Drivers risk £1,000 fines for licences that expire

Thousands of motorists are unwittingly driving without a valid licence, the Evening Standard has learned.

They risk £1,000 fines after failing to spot that their photocard licence automatically expires after 10 years.

Motoring organisations today blamed the Government for the fiasco. They said officials had not sufficiently publicised the fact that new-style licences - unlike the old paper ones - expire.

The first batch of photocard licences was issued in July 1998. But Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures requested by the Standard reveal that 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, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar.

The confusion would seem to have been made worse by the small print used on the plastic licences. On the front of the licence, point 4b features the expiry date. However, the significance of 4b is only explained in very small type on the reverse of the licence. A total of 25 million newstyle licences have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years.

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.

Motoring organisations said "most" drivers believed their licence was for life.

"It is not generally known that photocard licences expire," said AA president, Edmund King. "There appears to be a lack of information that people will have to renew these licences.

"People think they have already paid them for once over and that that is it," he added. "It will come as a surprise to motorists and a shock that they have to pay an extra £17.50." The Treasury will take an estimated £437 million by the time all 25 million licences have been renewed.

The AA called on the Government to use the annual £450 million from traffic enforcement fines to offset the renewal charge.

Before photocard licences were introduced, paper licences were valid until the age of 70. Driving instructor Tony Carter, of Canterbury, said: "Why - when you have already paid £50 for your photocard licence - should you pay the government an extra £17.50 every 10 years? It's another stealth tax. Drivers will be very annoyed."

Today the DVLA was unable to say whether motorists were told the licences would expire when they were first issued.

It said it was issuing postal reminders to drivers whose photocard licence was due to expire, to get the renewal message across. But a spokesman admitted this was "the limit" of the DVLA's publicity. Experts say many drivers will slip through the net because DVLA records are inaccurate and many motorists have changed address, making it impossible to trace them.

A spokesman said: "Previous experience has shown that widescale publicity is less effective and can generate enquiries and concerns from those not affected. Instead, DVLA focussed on targeted publicity to ensure that we got the message to the right person at the right time."

The Driving Standards Agency is allowing L-test candidates with out-of-date photocard licences to sit their driving test as long as they provide a valid passport. This concession will end in January next year, raising the prospect that some L-test candidates will be turned away.

The DVLA said no one had so far been charged with failing to surrender their licence.