Turns Out You Can Fight The Dvla

I used to work for a major airline as a driving instructor. We always checked drivers licences and you would be amazed at the number of discrepancies made by the DVLA when licences are renewed, and the motorcycle entitlement was a common one to be left off. We always advise people to photo your old licence before renewal then check immediately the replacement is delivered. DVLA are notoriously difficult to deal with and as with most civil servants they are a law unto themselves. Good result from this one though.

 

A pity substantial punitive damages couldn't be levied as a kick up the a*se and wakeup call for the DVLA.

 

DVLA really are a strange organisation and law unto themselves.

I noted recently that my ST log book (V5) hadn't turned up despite it being about 3 months into my ownership. A check of the website said to give it 8 weeks before chasing it up.
I duly posted off the form with the green slip ( stupid idea as now I had nothing to prove anything if it got lost).
A letter was sent to me advising the V5 should be along next week was this really necessary or just something else adding to their burden?
What a waste of administration resources, postage etc. but at least they met KPI's and their service charter..... total and utter BS.

 

My advice to everyone, is to take a photo of your licence (both sides) NOW. Don't leave it till next week, cos if you do you may loose/accidentally destroy it before then.

 

Good shout that man. Just took the photos and stashed. Thanks

 

Unfortunately taking a photo or photocopy of your licence will do no good, the difficulty is that licences can and do get forged, the DVLA are therefore extremely unlikely to reinstate an entitlement based on a photo copy. As an example a while back a male Class 1 Police Motorcyclist had to renew his driving licence, the DVLA informed him that they had no record of him ever passing a motorcycle test, the Roads Policing Inspector contacted the DVLA informing them that upon being interviewed for the post he had to produce a valid up to date driving licence, and enclosed a copy of said licence at that time, the DVLA refused to budge despite vigorous representations, the result being the officer had to take a test (passing with ease). Unfortunately the old adage "if it is not recorded it has not happened" takes place and sense does not prevail. People would be amazed at the information that is not correctly recorded on all sorts of official documents, including incorrect recordings, and those are exceptionally difficult to rectify.

 

But equally taking a photo will do no harm.

 

As you say it won't do any harm at all, unfortunately it will not reverse any decision the DVLA make, thankfully all renewals/replacements can now be completed online leaving you with the original licence (should you ever need it for proof).

 

I still have the old green paper licence which expire when the holder is 70. All licences must be in photocard format by 2033 but I'll be 70 then anyway. Apparently, endorsements are no longer written onto these old licences like they used to be but recorded electronically. Since 2017 I've also held a NI paper counterpart with 3 points after being issued with a speeding ticket in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.

 

How very modern of you having a green bit of paper. I still have my old little red book licence, with some stick in endorsements somewhere in the loft. Along with the fuel ration book issued in 1972 ish.

 

Pretty sure they're not valid anymore! Ration book? I guess that'll be for the oil crisis of '73. That's about 3 years after I rode my very first motorcycle, what I now think was a heavily stripped down 50cc Honda cub which a friend said was "given" to him! We used to ride it in local woodland, no exhaust, bald tyres, no front brake, we never did anything resembling maintenance. All we knew was, when we put fuel in, it just went! As 9-10 year olds we couldn't buy petrol so my mate used to syphon it out of his Dad's lawn mower. That must've been the thirstiest mower in England! Strange thing is it didn't ignite my passion for bikes, I was 21 before I bought one!

 

Yep those were the days.
Late 70's there were around x10 of us on a right concoction of field bikes.
Typically;
Honda klonks C50/70/90 step thru's
Suzuki M30
Suzuki B120
Garelli 50, now that was a flying machine to us mid-teenagers
Lambretta/Vespa, not sure which once rode this out of curiosity but didn't like the rotating clutch lever angle when you changed gear.

Like you said, maintenance was sparse even by some Farmer standards

The 2 strokes used the old 4 stroke gearbox oil to mix with the petrol, proper recycling.

 

Not sure I still have my hard back red driving licence, as you say if you got an endorsement back then it was stuck in your licence (but only at the top), unlike now when a person can rack up 12 points (and even as much as 30 in some cases) before a ban, back then 3 endorsements and you received a ban, however for the more unscrupulous (or clever) whichever way you view it, if a person had a friend in a different county you could apply to that local authority and gain a new clean licence to that address (no data bases back then). In 1965 a centralised licensing system was set up at a new Swansea Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre (DVLC), taking over licences issued from County/Borough councils A purpose built centre was on Longview Road, Swansea in1969, then the computerised DVLC system was phased in during the 1970s, at this point local County/Borough councils where requested to send in all their paper records of people whom had passed any driving test, now what took place was that some Councils/Boroughs did not comply (shock horror) and destroyed all the records, what you had to do then if you knew your entitlement to ride/drive was missing on a new paper licence, then you made arrangements to see a Solicitor (you had to pay for this) and swear on oath in said Solicitors office that you had passed your test on such and such a date, the information was sent to the DVLC now the DVLA, and a new licence was issued with said entitlements (how mad was that), I recall the events back then very clearly, having passed my test in 1967 and had proof when it came to renew my licence, first a pink paper licence, later on a green paper licence, and when I moved address a few years back, I got a bloody plastic one that I have to renew every 3 years. In December 2007, it was revealed that while sending out surveys to 1,215 drivers, the DVLA sent out confidential details, but to the wrong owners. The error occurred during the sending out of routine surveys, and was not discovered until members of the public contacted the DVLA to notify them of the error. In 2009 the BBC reported that entitlements, specifically the entitlement to drive a motorcycle, were being lost from reissued driving licences, and previously in 2005 the BBC highlighted drivers who had lost entitlements to drive heavy goods vehicles in a similar way. More infuriating In 2010 it was revealed that the DVLA had sold drivers' details from the database to certain private parking enforcement companies run by individuals with criminal records. The DVLA do sell details to companies for £2.50, it was found that they had sold some of these to a business which had been fined weeks before for unfair business practices. Ride safe all from an ageing Rocker who rode in what I think was the golden years.