Driving through an online 70+ puddle…

Dear LPG, 

 I recently wrote a message about the underlying unease I was feeling as I got to the age of 70 and the way that getting the reminder that informs of your need to update your driver’s license was the thing that brought the reality of the situation home for me.  Somehow, the thought of having to renew every three years for the rest of your life is a bit like being told that you have to take medication every day to keep healthy.

Did you know that, according to some data I found online, well over half of us 70+ year-olds still drive and have to deal with this form?  And another detail that is worth knowing is that statistics show us to be safer drivers overall than some of the younger ones.

It is interesting to note that if you try to update it before you get the letter, the system will reject your application. I tried and phoned and was told this.   At the moment the form is all about making sure that you are still healthy enough to drive, cost nothing to complete and it can be completed online quite quickly.   You get the letter about a month before your birthday and the new licence arrived in the post within a week of my getting online.  

‘Job done!’, I thought, but four days later I got another letter from the DVLA.  Most drivers know that every ten years you have to update the picture on your plastic drivers licence card and mine was due to expire a week after my birthday.  I thought that this was completely mad considering that I had just received my brand-new license and I phoned.    

They told me that I did need to renew the thing again in spite of the fact that the one I now had stated that it was not due to expire for three years.  

I got online again but I managed to find one of those agencies which will let you do all the work while they pretend to help you for a fee.  It is interesting to note that that bit of information is only found in the very small print at the very end of the process and, not noticing I continued to fill the form in.  

Having recently completed one such form this one was not a problem and though unhappy about having to do it all again I felt quite confident with the system.  After all, there had been a letter and a phone call, so I carried on.  The letter informed that the photo card process would cost me £14.00 so I added my bank details and thought it was done.

It was not until I got one of those security texts from my bank that the alarm bells started ringing and I was a bit suspicious of that, so I called the bank independently and they told me that I had paid £95.00.  They did stop the payment which left me wondering if I needed to start all over again.

I phoned the DVLA again and they told me that the 3rd party organisation had completed the form, and all for no fee, in my case.  They told me that the ‘photo card update 70+ driver’s licence renewal situation’ does sometimes happen but if your photo card needs renewing even a day after your 70th birthday there should be no charge at all for doing that.

The moral of my story is this.  

If you do fill in an internet form, please make absolutely sure that you know who has put it there.  

Talk about putting your foot in it!

OK, Hither Green.
  

OK shares the statistics he found although they are a little out of date.  He also suggests that if you don’t want to depress yourself too much you just stick to reading the first couple of paragraphs… 

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