Paper Driving Licence: scrapped from today

Author: Oli Rushby Posted: 08 Jun 2015

WHAT IS HAPPENING

The DVLA is scrapping the paper counterpart driving licence in an effort to move their resources online. Much like with the scrapping of the tax disc, information that was stored on paper counterparts will now be stored on an online database.

As of today, if you have a photocard licence, your paper counterpart will not be valid.

WHO DOES IT AFFECT?

Eventually, everybody. For now, just those with photocard driving licences. From today, your paper counterpart will no longer be valid – you could shred it or burn it and it wouldn’t matter (but we recommend keeping it – read on!).

If you have an old-style pre-1998 paper licence, this will remain valid. However, any penalty points you now incur will be stored online and the next time you need to update your licence – change of address, name etc, you will be issued with a photocard only. 

WHAT DO I DO IF ASKED TO SHOW BOTH PARTS OF MY LICENCE ON TRACK DAYS OR WHEN HIRING A BIKE?

The DVLA recently unveiled the ‘Share Driving Licence’ service, in which you can log on and allow others access to your online licence through a PIN. You can read more about this here. It’s all available through the new ‘View Driving Licence’ service, which can be accessed from: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence

HOW DO I SEE MY PENALTY POINTS?

All penalty points (endorsements) will be recorded online on the View Driving Licence service here.

WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY PAPER LICENCE?

It really is up to you… you could burn it, shred it or turn it into an origami Kawasaki H2R. We’d recommend keeping it though, especially if you’re hiring bikes (or even cars!) abroad – there’s bound to be some confusion regarding the changes and the last thing you’d want is to be refused your vehicle.

Not only that, but retaining your paper licence provides proof of your entitlements – including motorcycle!