DVLA Say I have no licence

[Gortonborn]

Hi Folks, I have had a full licence since 1982, the only copy I had of this was handed in to a Company I worked for to be photocopied for a Company Car at the time (1994), the Company has now gone! I have never had a conviction in all my time on the road, I have owned 12 cars, driven countless others including 24 Company cars and my wives vehicles, I also passed my Motorcycle test in 1884.

 

Earlier this year, I had a crash (my first one) as a result of aquaplaning across the motorway, not my fault, Police were sympathetic and noone else (thank god) was involved, I broke my nose and had some cuts and bruises and wrote off my wifes car. That night I agreed to meet the Police the next day at a Service Station to sort out what had happened and fill in the paperwork.

 

Uopn meeting the Officer, he informed me he had done a check and DVLC were coming back and saying I had no licence! I was surprised, I said I had no copy but I would get in touch - anyway I did and I got the same result much to my horror, I am in court for driving without a licence...

 

Is there anything I can do, My Solicitor seems to think this happens all the time and he has asked for an adjournment so we and they can get all the evidence together...I am not so sure and I have no confidence in the DVLC or any Agency that relies on Computer records 100% for their day to day activities...

 

I am in I.T. you see and I understand Databases and recognise the pitfalls like the Data entry Folk, the Database itself, Archive records - the list goes on - I suppose I am asking if anyone has had a similar experience to me and more to the point, did they have a positive outcome -

 

I feel quite desperate, I rely on my ability to drive for my income, I have my own business, we have just had twins, my wife will be leaving work for the next two years to bring them up and now we are looking at ruin because someone has not updated records at some stage - or am I missing something here?

 

Please help...with

[Gortonborn]

Hi Folks, I have had a full licence since 1982, the only copy I had of this was handed in to a Company I worked for to be photocopied for a Company Car at the time (1994), the Company has now gone! I have never had a conviction in all my time on the road, I have owned 12 cars, driven countless others including 24 Company cars and my wives vehicles, I also passed my Motorcycle test in 1884.

 

Earlier this year, I had a crash (my first one) as a result of aquaplaning across the motorway, not my fault, Police were sympathetic and noone else (thank god) was involved, I broke my nose and had some cuts and bruises and wrote off my wifes car. That night I agreed to meet the Police the next day at a Service Station to sort out what had happened and fill in the paperwork.

 

Uopn meeting the Officer, he informed me he had done a check and DVLC were coming back and saying I had no licence! I was surprised, I said I had no copy but I would get in touch - anyway I did and I got the same result much to my horror, I am in court for driving without a licence...

 

Is there anything I can do, My Solicitor seems to think this happens all the time and he has asked for an adjournment so we and they can get all the evidence together...I am not so sure and I have no confidence in the DVLC or any Agency that relies on Computer records 100% for their day to day activities...

 

I am in I.T. you see and I understand Databases and recognise the pitfalls like the Data entry Folk, the Database itself, Archive records - the list goes on - I suppose I am asking if anyone has had a similar experience to me and more to the point, did they have a positive outcome -

 

I feel quite desperate, I rely on my ability to drive for my income, I have my own business, we have just had twins, my wife will be leaving work for the next two years to bring them up and now we are looking at ruin because someone has not updated records at some stage - or am I missing something here?

 

Please help...with any advice at all...

[Monty2007]

Hi, there are a few cases about this on CAG, worth searching around. My advice would be to:

 

(i) Contact the driving center where you originally took your test, they may still be able to confirm that you passed.

(ii) Is there anyone from your old company that could confirm that they copied your license, did they have to provide a copy to any third party or was it for their own records

(iii) Have you hired any cars in the last few years, sometimes the car hire companies will have your driver details.

 

I assume that you do not know your driver number reference or you updated to the new photo card license?

 

Hope this helps, good luck.

[Gortonborn]

Hi, there are a few cases about this on CAG, worth searching around. My advice would be to:

 

(i) Contact the driving center where you originally took your test, they may still be able to confirm that you passed. Tried - records dont go back to then -

(ii) Is there anyone from your old company that could confirm that they copied your license, did they have to provide a copy to any third party or was it for their own records - This would be a good one, unfortunately, I am married to the Lady who photocopied the Licence...

(iii) Have you hired any cars in the last few years, sometimes the car hire companies will have your driver details. I have never hired a car in my life, although, Companies have hired them for me...

 

I assume that you do not know your driver number reference or you updated to the new photo card license? I have my driver number BUT it refers to a skeleton record (no details of me ever having had a licence) I never updated to the pink versiion...

 

Hope this helps, good luck.

 

Thank you for your help....

[Monty2007]

Hi

 

I am not sure how legal this is or if it would help but worth considering. If you have your original driver number then if you and your wife were to write a statement/affidavit to the effect that you passed your test and have been driving since 19xx - the Police would be able to search that you have no conviction and I assume you have held insurance that can be verified.

 

Are the DVLC of any help whatsoever?

[slick132]

Hi GB,

 

Would it be possible to contact the test centre at which you took and passed your test.

 

If it no longer exists, contact the motorbike test centre.

 

Or the area office which deals with the 2 centres.

 

I have heard that DVLA are quite good at losing motorbike test data.

[freakyleaky]

2 threads merged.

[Conniff]

If you passed your test in 1884, the records were probably lost in one of the many wars since then

 

I believe that insurance companies check your license before issuing a certificate on first application (if not on renewal as well).

 

You could ask you insurance company if they have done so ans what the result of that search was.

[WOOD73]

the dsa test centres only hold records for 2 years, so they would not help and would probavly not remember you, as it was a long time ago.

In a reply I received from dvla about my case they stated if the licence was issued prior to 1st april 1986 then it could not now be renewed, so I am presuming records before this have been destroyed.

couple this to a bunch of incompetent bungling idiots, and its no surprise.

[The GodMother]

would a SAR request help.

 

It would need to give all his personal details so if he has not changed his name then any records of him within the dvla offices might be of help. When i say SAR i mean CPR as it is now within court procedings.

[Ronnie1234]

How did you get on with this? The reason I ask is:

How are you getting on? I have similar problem:

I was involved in an accident Thursday (not my fault), I then contacted my insurance company, gave them all the accident details and was put through to another division, help hire who again took all my details, they went to to check licence details. To my utter shock & disbelief, the lady at the DVLA said that I was only on a provisional licence & gave me another number to call - the enquiry line. Called the enquiry line and the lady there said that they had never received my full application and I was still on a provisional licence. I am utterly shocked by this. The lady said I would have received a letter six months after my test pass explaining that I hadn't applied for my licence. I never received this letter, but that is probably due to the fact I had applied for my licence.

 

I then worriedly embarked on delving through all my paperwork, and found a letter from the DVLA dated one month after my practical test. The letter from DVLA says thank you for your recent application / correspondence which I have to return to you. Please sign the D750 form. Please supply photocopy of your passport that has been signed.

 

I have a copy of the signed and dated passport photo I then sent to DVLA.

 

Therefore, they must have received my initial application form, to then write to me requiring additional information.

I am now extremley concerned and worried about this, I have wrote to DVLA explaining all this. Item was delivered today - checked on Royal Mail.

I have always taken out insurance on my vehicles. I have sent a copy of my theory pass, practical pass and copies of correspondence / photo to them

[spannermoneky01]

sorry to give advice that is to late for you, but everyone els should do the following when rquired to give up their licence. never give your licence to a copper. ask at any time from today for the dvla to send you all the information they hold on you via a freedom of information request. that way they can deny all they like but the information they send to you has to be correct. CHECKMATE I thank you.

[patdavies]

sorry to give advice that is to late for you, but everyone els should do the following when rquired to give up their licence. never give your licence to a copper. ask at any time from today for the dvla to send you all the information they hold on you via a freedom of information request. that way they can deny all they like but the information they send to you has to be correct. CHECKMATE I thank you.

 

And again...

 

Since you are spamming the same (incorrect) message, I'll just cut and paste my correction.

 

 

Freedom of Information Act request will not get you any information about yourself. Personal information is a specific and absolute exemption.

 

Perchance you mean a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act

[indebtstudent]

This has been on Watchdog and it happens A LOT. One guy sent his licence off and it came back with just one category (it entitled him to drive a tank) there were two ladies who were told they had no licence and there was NO WAY the record could be wrong.

 

Also they muddled up a motorcyclists, giving him a card licence, and one the other way round. The guy from the DVLA said he was sorry.

 

Surely they are legally liable for the hardship they are putting people to (not to mention possible criminal liability for the individual!).

[WOOD73]

They can only be legally liable if it can be proved they are in the wrong, the problem is when they have had your old licence and their records say you dont have a particular category, how do you prove otherwise?

[deannatrois]

Is there ANYTHING someone can do when the DVLA say you don't have a current licence? My other half lost his due to a drink driving conviction. We paid the £75 fee when the 3 years were up, both of us have held the licence in our hands when it was issued, before sending it off to the High Traffic Commisioner to see if he could be permitted to have the HGV classification on the licence again. He was stopped by police a couple of months ago and was told he was driving without a licence (and therefore no insurance). He is due to appear in court end of July. DVLA say their records are never wrong, his licence was never reissued. The traffic commission say they have never asked for nor seen a licence from him but we did send it off after receiving a letter from them requesting a form being filled out and the licence sent off (they gave him an appointment to see the traffic commissioner - unfortunately we have moved and lost this letter).

 

Its as if all records from a certain date have been lost and we don't know where to turn.

 

Any idea's anyone?

[nehpets]

This could be a shot in the dark but did he ever attend that meeting with the Traffic Commisioner? If he did then it is possible that they have a number of records relating to his being at the office. Firstly he may have had to sign in and secondly the may have a record of old appointments.

If you could find this out then you could build a reasonable defence by working backwards. ie lay out that he attended that meeting and then work back through each step explaining what happened. Obviously people dont just make appointments with the High Traffic Commisioner for no reason.

 

Did he go to that meeting?