What does this mean?
As of 8 June 2015, the driving license paper counterpart became invalid and is no longer issued by DVLA. The counterpart was introduced to display driving licence details that could not be included on the photo-card. These details include some vehicle categories you are entitled to drive and any endorsement/penalty points.
Instead all details are now held online, similar to the way you renew your vehicle tax online.
Please note; this has not effected photo-card license's issued by DVA in Northern Ireland.
This service replaced the paper counterpart of your license from 8 June 2015.
You can use this service to:
- View your driving record, e.g. vehicles you can drive, penalty points and disqualifications.
- Create a licence check code to share your driving record with someone else, e.g. your employer or a car hire company
The check code will allow someone to see what vehicles you can drive, any penalty points or disqualifications, your name and the last 8 characters of your driving license number.
Customers with existing paper counterparts
Any paper counterparts, after 8 June 2015, no longer have any legal status. You should destroy your paper counterpart but you still need to keep your current photo-card driving license.
Customers with paper driving licences
Paper driving license's issued before the photo-card was introduced in 1998 remain valid and should not be destroyed.
If you need to update your
name ,
address or
renew your license, you will be issued with a photo-card only.
You can find more information on GOV.UK about driving license changes.
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