For many, the forthcoming changes to the UK Driving Licence will be most welcome, if not widely broadcast. So here at Headline Auto were doing our bit to keep you informed. From Friday 8th June 2014 the paper counterpart to the UK Drivers Licence will cease to be valid. No longer will there be frantic searches through gloveboxes and paperwork mountains for that green and pink A4 page that disappears the moment??you need it most. The DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) will no longer issue paper counterparts to licences, just photocards. Any paper counterpart issued since 1998, when the photocard was introduced, will no longer be valid. If you (somehow) still have a traditional paper licence from before 1998 (without a photocard), keep hold of it its still valid. The same goes if you are in Northern Ireland these changes dont apply.

With the tax disc already abolished, the death??of the paper counterpart??is another step along the road of paperless administration. There is one potential snag, however hiring cars. As the paper counterpart contained information on entitlements and endorsements, it is no longer a case of looking at a piece of paper to establish how clean (or otherwise) your licence is before handing over the keys to your holiday rental. Fear not the government have thought about this very issue. A new licence checking service allows a code to be generated that can be submitted to employers or hirers, allowing the receiver to check your details for up to 72 hours from the time of issue. Whether this will work in practice remains to be seen there is potential for misery at many airport car hire desks this summer. Best go prepared.

The DVLA havent announced any other changes for the near future. They have stated a desire to move the process for updating vehicle details online, alongside managing personalised registrations (buying, selling and transferring). So it might be the venerable V5C form that is next for the chop, although there will be many hurdles to overcome to replace it. In the meantime, worry no more about that misplaced paper counterpart. If you do find it, the DVLA recommend you destroy it. Well let you decide on the best method.

Feature image www.gov.uk