Driving-licence-changes

[tommy.irene]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/driving-licence-changes

[suzieseaside]

It sounds as if you also need to know your National Insurance Number when applying for a code to hire a car. What your National Insurance Number has to do with your driving licence, and why providing your Licence number and postode is not enough, I don't know.

From http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2015/06/hiring-a-car-youll-need-a-dvla-code-to-do-so-fr...

How do I request this code?

From today, the paper part of your licence will no longer be valid, and the traditional paper-only licences may not have your latest points and fines recorded, so you will have to plan ahead and request an access code for the company from the DVLA.

You can do this via the new Share Driving Licence online service at Gov.uk, or by calling the DVLA on 0300 083 0013.

You will need to provide your driving licence number found on your photocard (or on your paper driving licence for paper-only motorists), National Insurance number and the postcode on your driving licence.

The code will be valid for 72 hours, meaning those travelling abroad will have to be mindful of journey times and time differences.

Drivers will also be able to download a PDF of their licence, which will be worth taking as a precaution, but they will still need a code as well.

This 72 hour only for the code to be valid seems as if it could be a headache for someone going abroad who wants to hire a car when they get there but is having a stopover on the way.  If they don't know which hire company they want to use until their arrival and so can't book from UK before they leave, they will have to hope that internet access and the DVLA website doesn't pose any problems when they need to get a code, and they will have to know or write down their National Insurance Number before they go, by the sound of it. .

[joamur_gosof]

Surprise surprise not good enough evidence lol....you are a gem cd 🙂

[cee-dee]

I know, I'm fantastic aren't I?

[joamur_gosof]

footnote 

drums fingers and whistles .....

meanwhile back on planet crookythump,gangs of marauding car hirers cause mayhem up and down and round and round pilfering everything they can lay their grubby car hiring hands on...police are baffled as to which direction to start looking ,however the daily make it up has cctv footage of brillions of hire cars near the scene of all crimes...and in an odd twist even more everywhere else 

[joamur_gosof]

A lonely walk down a dusty street ey CD 🙂

[cee-dee]

Not at all, I've just come in with the dog.

[malacandran]

Do we have to have a "licence" to drive a car anyway?
I mean , we don't need a "licence" to drive a bicycle.

Even though bicycles are similar to cars, in that they are both vehicles used on public roads. And bicycles must run into pedestrians occasionally, and cause injury. Yet the bicycle driver doesn't need a licence. Why?

[jd.linklater]

I don't think a licence should be necessary to 'drive' a bicycle but cyclists should definitely have to pass a test of some description if only to make them aware of their responsibilities regarding the Highway Code. We are all road users after all.

[cee-dee]

A licence for a bike? How about a licence to ride a horse on the road which is far more dangerous and a times, pretty polluting too!

[malacandran]

That's true, jd. we are all road-users.  And there, I think you have made the point.

 Cyclists go along the road, propelled only by their natural legs. 

Whereas car-drivers are artificially propelled, by a powerful internal-combustion engine. This engine can make the car go much faster than a bicycle.  So a car is more dangerous than a bicycle.  And so should be licensed.

That's very clear, thanks!

As for horses, they seem to eat too much food  to represent a economical alternative to the bicycle.