From 8 June 2015, the paper counterpart to the photocard driving licence will not be valid and will no longer be issued by DVLA.
The counterpart was introduced to display driving licence details that could not be included on the photocard. These details include some vehicle categories you are entitled to drive and any endorsement/penalty points.
Please note, this does not affect photocard licences issued by DVA in Northern Ireland.
What this means for you
Customers with existing paper counterparts
If you already hold a paper counterpart, after 8 June 2015 it will no longer have any legal status. You should destroy your paper counterpart after this date but you still need to keep your current photocard driving licence.
Customers with paper driving licences
If you need to update your name, address or renew your licence, you will be issued with a photocard only.
Penalty points (endorsements)
From 8 June 2015 new penalty points (endorsements) will only be recorded electronically, and will not be printed or written on either photocard licences or paper driving licences. From this date, if you commit an offence you will still have to pay any applicable fine and submit your licence to the court but the way the court deals with the paperwork will change.
For photocard licences, the court will retain the paper counterpart and only return the photocard to you.
For paper licences, the court will return it to you but they won’t have written or printed the offence details on it.
This means that from 8 June 2015 neither the photocard driving licence nor the paper licence will provide an accurate account of any driving endorsements you may have. Instead, this information will be held onDVLA’s driver record, and can be viewed online, by phone or post.
The courts are unable to respond to queries about the destruction of your paper counterpart. Any concerns about this process should be directed to DVLA.