Driving Licence Counterpart to be Abolished

Good news for those of us who have struggled to locate the counterpart to their drivers licence when they have needed it, from 8^th June 2015 the counterpart to the photocard driving licence will no longer be valid.  People applying for a new licence after this date will only be issued with the photocard.

This change is being introduced as part of the Governments Red Tape Challenge, where the Government solicited views from 30,000 businesses and members of the public to identify ways of streamlining business processes and regulations with a view to save companies both time and money.

The photocard and counterpart licence was originally introduced in 1998, the counterpart section was to hold information that doesn’t fit on the photocard, such as any endorsements and penalty points and categories of vehicles which you are permitted to drive, but this information will be recorded electronically, making the document obsolete.

How will the change affect you?

Drivers with a photocard and counterpart licence

After the 8^th June the counterpart will not hold a legal status, and will no longer be required so you should destroy the document and retain the photocard licence.

Drivers with a paper licence

Drivers with licences issued before the introduction of photocard licences, who hold the earlier paper licence should not destroy the paper licence, as this will still be valid after 8^th June. 

It should be noted that if you hold a paper licence and need any of your contact details updated or are required to renew your licence then your licence will be replaced with the photocard version.

Changes to the way Penalty Points are recorded

After the abolition of the counterpart penalty points will only be recorded electronically.  So should you pick up any points you will still be required to submit your licence to the Courts, but your licence will not be endorsed with details of the offence, instead it will be stored digitally.  This new process will be the same whether you hold a photocard or paper licence.

Details of endorsements can be checked online at www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence, or by contacting the DVLA by phone or by post.

Providing others with details of your driving record

There are times that you need to provide details of your driving licence and in particular any endorsements to others, perhaps for work or when you are hiring a car.  A new Share Driving Licence service is to be launched for this purpose.