Dvla

[JanieB]

This might possibly be for the minor rant thread but I suspect there might be some chat so I'm putting it on here.

Just before Christmas my son managed to write my car off. He was coming home from his girlfriends house when a deer ran out in front of him and he ended up in a ditch.

The insurance was for a courtesy car in this sort of situation. This has suddenly been withdrawn. It turns out that my licence (not my sons) was revoked in 2012. I knew nothing about this and the scary part is that I've been driving about for 4 and a half years with no licence and no insurance.

I don't remember any letters about this and I would not have ignored them. I was stopped in a road in our town by the police for about an hour earlier this year when they checked my insurance, MOT and driving licence and nothing flagged up. I'm not happy that I won't be paid out for the loss of the car but I'm glad that my son is ok. We can always replace a car.

[veggiechicken]

You can check your Driving licence at https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence.
Might be worth double checking.

[Thelma Sanders]

I'd certainly get it checked, because I don't know if things have changed now, but when I worked in Insurance, you couldn't insure a car without having a driving license.

[JanieB]

Thanks VC will do. It's still very scary. I don't give a monkeys about the car, I'm just glad my boy's all right.

[JanieB]

To Thelma

Ah. We've just crossed posts. That's what I find odd. There are other things that I won't go into on here. Surely when the police checked my licence earlier this year, the fact that it had been revoked would have been flagged. I really wouldn't have let this happen if I'd had any inkling about it.

[Thelma Sanders]

The police would surely have noticed! If they have been informed about a new medical condition, that effects your ability to drive, or an endorsement/conviction - both lead to revocation.

Revocation of driving licences
Drivers who receive penalties from the courts or the fixed penalty offices for offences that do not result in disqualification, are required to surrender their current valid driving licence for the endorsement to be added. Many drivers fail to surrender their driving licence to the courts or DVLA and in these circumstances the law provides that we can revoke the licence as a last resort.

Before revocation takes place the driver will have received two letters from the court and a further two letters from DVLA.
procedure from 7 November 2010:

The DVLA will request that drivers surrender their licence for endorsement within 28 days of notification of court conviction. If drivers fail to do so, DVLA will revoke their licence after the 28 days has expired.

In the last year DVLA estimate that around 42,000 drivers have failed to return their licence and had their entitlement revoked. DVLA would have advised these drivers that despite the revocation, they would have retained entitlement to drive for 12 months and DVLA will have applied that concessionary period. DVLA expect that many of these drivers will have complied during this period and so DVLA do not intend to contact these drivers and will allow the 12-month time period to expire.

Revoked Licences

A licence can be revoked (withdrawn) for the following reasons:
•On medical grounds
•Under the New Drivers Act 1995
•If a licence is issued in error
•Failure to surrender a licence for endorsement.

[Scarlet]

If your licence is revoked on medical grounds surely you would know about it? My Dad has had several re tests with the DVLA yo check that he is capable of driving. My father in law when he had early signs of dementia was also tested by the DVLA and his licence was revoked. They don't just send a letter...there are a few procedures to go through before they take the licence away, it wouldn't go unnoticed.

[seasprout]

I was going to say on what grounds was your license revoked, but you've stated there are things you might not want to discuss, so fair enough.

I was under the impression the police went on information supplied to them by the DVLA, & in this case it looks like the system has failed.
If you want to complain to the DVLA about this, then they must have a procedure somewhere, I think you are due and apppology at the very least, as this could have landed you in court. But as you say, it's your son that matters more.

But..... the system has clearly failed, someone perhaps needs to be aware of this so the failure can be investigated and not allowed to happen again.. to someone else.

I was going to suggest if you get no joy from complaining to the DVLA if you wanted to, then your MP might be interested.... perhaps.




Anyhow, glad your son is ok.

[Bigmallly]

If the insurance won't pay out then surely you are entitled to a full refund on your policy.

[veggiechicken]

Until you resolve this Janie, I assume neither you, or your son, can drive anything as you are not licenced or insured
Did you check the Licence link I gave you?
You can also check the status of your insurance at https://www.mib.org.uk/check-insuran...-your-vehicle/

[Nicos]

^^^^good point VC.....