The government has announced that the paper counterpart of UK driver licences will now remain in use until 8 June 2015, extending the previous removal date of 1 January 2015.

What do I need to do?

For anyone planning on hiring a van, this means you will still need to produce both parts of your driving licence — the photocard and the paper counterpart — when you hire a vehicle, until at least 8 June 2015.

What’s happened?

Back in November, I wrote about the government’s plan to scrap the paper counterpart that forms part of UK driver licences, leaving only the photocard. The change was due to come into force from 1 January 2015.

At the time, the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) was flagging up concerns about the cost and practicality of this approach, as the planned new online system was, of course, running late, and was unlikely to be ready until the new year.

The plan was that the information contained on the paper counterpart to be available online, instead, so that individuals and businesses such as vehicle hire firms and transport operators, with a legitimate need for the information, could access it online instead. However, with hire companies needing to check thousands of licences per year, and many transport operators and staffing agencies needing to run hundreds of checks, the extra costs for businesses forced to use the DVLA’s existing driver data service would have been significant.

Lobbying from the BVRLA and the Freight Transport Association appears to have convinced the government to put back the deadline — hopefully, the extra six months will be enough for the government’s IT contractors to get their act together and finish the planned new Share My Driving Record system.