From the 8th June, as part of the Governments Red Tape Challenge to remove unnecessary burdens on drivers, the DVLA will no longer be issuing the paper counterpart of driving licences, and existing counterparts will no longer have any legal standing.
What does that mean for you as a driver?
You won’t need to do anything, just keep your photo card driving license with you. Any drivers who only hold the paper licences (issued before 1998) should keep it and not destroy it.
From the 8th June, the license (photo card or older style paper) will remain the official document that shows what vehicle a person can drive, but the driver record held by the DVLA will be the only legal source of penalty point endorsements, paper licences will no longer be annotated with them.
You will be able to check the most up to date information on your driving record either online, by phone or post.
How will it affect your VW Camper self-drive hire?
The new Share Driving Licence service will allow businesses to check information that is currently displayed on the paper counterpart. It is a free 24/7 service that will be available before the counterpart is abolished.
The driving licence holder will need to log onto the View Driving Licence service and generate a unique, one time use, access code for their record. The driver will then share that code, plus the last 8 digits of their licence number to anyone who has the right to see it. This will enable the third part to see the driver’s licence status, endorsements and what they can drive. This code will only be valid for 72 hours, after which it will expire.
Although this change is happening quite soon, within the next three weeks at the time of writing this post, it’s not yet confirmed if you should destroy the paper counterpart or keep it at home, somewhere safe. While the DVLA are saying to destroy it, we’ve also read other suggestions not to yet.
You can access the new service by visiting the DVLA Share Driving Licence page or by calling 0300 790 6801.