Driving Licence Renewal

[dgr1941]

Can anyone tell me how long is the delay in issuing an over 70s short term licence. I sent my application on 1 November 2021 and have heard nothing. It is impossible to contact DVLA by phone or email. My licence expired 3 Jan 2022.

[ladybirder]

Did you use this dgr?
https://www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence-at-70

[dgr1941]

No I did not use it. I just tried using it and half way through it told me I am "not eligible to use this service"

[grumpy01]

Mine took about 3 months across last summer.

[calmck]

I just managed to speak to a person at DVLA today. Started calling at 10am got limited options then told to call back later. Called every 15 minutes until 3.15 when options message changed and after pressing some numbers and waiting on hold for 7 minutes spoke to a human and problem solved. Good luck

[Buenchico]

It seem that you're just one of around 900,000 people who're currently waiting for their paper applications to be processed. This link (dated today) doesn't directly answer your question but it does put your question into some sort of perspective, I think:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10596577/A-million-drivers-hit-delays-licence-processing-DVLA-backlog.html

[sniffa]

My wife's renewal took 4 days.

[bookbinder]

You can still drive while your licence is with DVLA:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/695575/inf188x6-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla.pdf

[goodgoalie]

Amazing report on this in The Times today. Most of the DVLA's 6,200 staff were sent home during the first lockdown, but 3,400 were put on paid special leave without working at all. There were still almost 2,000 staff on paid special leave months later, with no expectation they would work, even from home. In 9 of the past 24 months more than 500 staff have not been working, either on paid special leave or on strike.

The DVLA receives 60,000 items of post a day, but there has not been enough staff to open and process them, and backlogs have led to some people who rely on their cars for work being unable to drive for more than a year. Also, last year there were 58 days of strikes in almost six months. What a shambles.