Drivers Beware

Thousands of us motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because we may be unwittingly driving without a valid licence.

Risking prosecution after failing to spot the small print on our photo card licence. On it it states automatic expiry after 10 years and has to be renewed – even though we drivers are licensed to drive until 70.

The first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998 and so now they start to expire.

With another 300,000 photo card licences due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licences will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine.

At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version.

Just below the driver name on the front of the photo card licence is a series of dates and details – each one numbered.

Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means.

The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'licence valid to'.

Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence – that is until his or her 70th birthday.

Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their licence', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.

Before photo card licences were introduced, old-style paper licences were valid until the age of 70.

'Many motorists still believe this to be the case with the new ones.'

Experts say many drivers will slip through the net because DVLA records are inaccurate and many motorists have changed address, making it impossible to trace them.