The Driver & Vehicle Licencing Agency has extended the expiry date of your photocard licence if it was due to expire between February 1st 2020 and December 31st 2020. The extension is eleven months. If, for example, your photocard licence was due to expire on September 1st 2020 it therefore now expires August 1st 2021. The extension is automatic so you do not have to apply.
There are further points to consider. For example:
- the eleven month extension only applies if you have a full photocard licence, rather than a provisional
- the extension also applies to any entitlements on the licence, i.e. the types of vehicle you are permitted to drive
- you will not receive a new licence with the updated expiry date
- this is the second extension (the first expired August 31st 2020)
Typically, a car photocard driving licence has to be renewed every ten years if you are under seventy, every three years if you are seventy plus, or between one and five years if you have a reportable medical condition
- if preferred, you can renew your licence before the extended expiry date.
Why the expiry date has been extended
So, why has your driving licence expiry date been extended? Naturally, coronavirus changed the way we work, play, and interact. More people work from home, for example. It might therefore be hard to find a photographer to update your picture. Even if you can, you might prefer not to visit and risk exposure to the virus (or risk transmitting it). An extension reduces such issues.
DVLA praises extension
The Driver & Vehicle Licencing Agency’s Chief Executive, Julie Lennard, confirmed: ‘Being able to drive is a lifeline for millions of people and this further extension will ensure that – in these uncertain times – drivers do not need to worry about the admin or the associated costs of renewing their licences’.
Ms Lennard further explained that you can normally continue to drive if you have already applied for a new photocard licence. ‘Drivers who have already applied to renew their photocard driving licence, or entitlement, to drive can usually carry on driving while we process their application’, she added. This assumes you have not been informed by a ‘doctor or optician’ that you are unfit.
RAC welcomes extension
The RAC supports the extension. Spokesman Simon Williams said: 'Given the restrictions in place presently, a temporary extension to renewing a photocard licence due to expire seems like a sensible step which will have very few negative consequences. It is likely to be welcomed by those affected’, he added.
