Driving Licence Renewal Conundrum

As long as you don’t drive I should think you will be fine, however, you need to contact your Insurance Company to see if your car is still insured against damage done to it whilst it is parked on the road.

Look at the DVLA site as you may well be able to continue driving while the process your application as long as you adhere to the rules laid down by DVLA.

It depends how long ago the Driving Licence expired.

Sorry posted too soon, if you look at the Government website it says that if it’s 3 months ago that your licence expired then you could be fined. I suggest you give the DVLA a call.

I'm surprised that you didn't get A reminder from the dvka. We always do.

Yes my licence expired this month to, I had a reminder about 1 month ago reminding me to renew, which I did online had my licence back within 10 days .

Go to your local Post Office, they will do everything, give you a temporary paper licence, and it'll be back inside a week! (I went through this last year)

Mine was due to expire but I just happened to notice it a couple of months beforehand which is the earliest you can apply for a renewal. I did not have any notification.

It depends on the wording of your insurance. Mine states that I must hold a license, or have held one and not be currently disqualified from holding one for the jnsurance to be valid.

Daisymae I also received no notification.

I didn't receive a notification either

My renewed licence took so long to come through (when we were in lockdown) I'm sure it got mislaid; when I chased it up it came through within days.

If the DVLA are processing it you should be able to drive but check on ther website to make sure.

I'm in NI and when my licence was due in June I applied for a new one several weeks early as requested. Because of backlog I'm still waiting 6 months later!! I do have a letter confirming I can still drive and that my Insurance is ok.

What Kitty said. I just renewed mine but I got a renewal notice well in advance of the date it expired. It came back from DVLA in three weeks.

Funny story. Had to use dh’s driving license for id purposes and discovered it was out of date. We couldn’t remember a renewal reminder but discovered the expiry date had been automatically extended by 11 months due to Covid. Even so it was still out of date so dh stopped driving whilst he went online to renew but it wouldn’t let him. No one at DVLA was answering phones or replying to emails. Dh’s passport had also expired and without the driving license he had no photo proof of id which he desperately needed. Panic! Then whilst having a tidy up I found a driving license all up to date which we must have applied for and forgotten about. Moral: destroy your old license when the new one comes in.

25Avalon I was required to send my expired Licence back to the DVLA.

Or send it back!

I had no notification either, but when I looked up on line I found it had already been extended! My licence then disappeared somewhere so eventually I just sent off for a replacement…..which did cost me but I thought it was easier than all the hassle!

Well, thanks for all the comments and helpful advice! The slightly longer story is that as a then 70 year old driver, my obligatory licence renewal was delayed for a year by covid back in 2020. Not having received any reminders from DVLA since then, I unwittingly allowed my licence to elapse. . . until now, that is. The good news is that I've now spoken to someone at DVLA who has asked me to send in a completed D1 licence card renewal form (plus new photo) via the post office, which will then be validated. Meanwhile, because my licence has already been updated 'in absentia' (so to speak) I'm still free to continue driving, despite having an out-of-date licence card. It also means that my driver's insurance remains valid.

I mention all this just in case there are others out there who are wondering what their own legal status might be in the same or a similar situation. Thanks again for all the helpful comment. Much appreciated. GeeKay.

I got a reminder my licence would expire January next year. I renewed online on Thursday and got new one today. I am impressed.