More Than a Million Driving Licences ‘Out of Date’.

How old is your driving licence? If you are in possession of a pink, durable photo card you’re probably thinking it’s quite new and something that can sit forgotten in your wallet or purse until you need to prove your identity.

Except these photo card licences expire like your other debit, credit and store cards and so does the embarrassing mug shot attached to it.

In fact, three million photographs on the photo card will expire this year alone and 1.6m are already out of date, meaning their owners are at risk of a £1,000 fine, which can be enforced by police under the Road Traffic Act.

To all but the most fastidious driver this may come as a surprise and resulted from a simple but effective PR stunt in which Sainsbury’s insurance arm made a Freedom of Information request to the DVLA.

It was told that over the next five years 13m drivers must renew their photograph on the photo card, although many of us remain unaware of this.
According to British law your mug shot must be renewed every 10 years, whether or not you are an active driver.

Just as many drivers, if not more, are probably unaware that the photo card itself expires after five years and needs to be renewed immediately.

According to a follow-up survey by the supermarket, 30% of drivers did not know their licence had expired; most of us don’t know when our licence expires and 14% (nearly a quarter of a million) have been driving without a valid licence since 2009 or before. Whoops.

“The photo card driving licence was introduced in 1998 so it’s unsurprising that those issued with a licence around that time may not remember that they need to update their photograph,” explains Ben Tyte, Sainsbury’s head of car insurance. “We would therefore encourage all drivers to check when their photo card was issued and ensure that they arrange to update their photo when required to avoid risking a £1,000 fine.”

For more information please contact Anton Balkitis or Lucy Wood on 0800 046 3066