Typically it takes DVLA up to 21 days to process a licence renewal transaction.
- When the driver has a medical condition it can take longer for DVLA to investigate and make a licencing decision.
- Recent research has shown that DVLA receive almost 40% of applications after the expiry date of the licence.
- A further 28% are received within 2 weeks of the expiry date making it difficult for DVLA to issue the licence before the expiry date.
- DVLA understand from trade associations representing the haulage and freight industry and the bus and coach industry that this causes difficulties to operators in terms of the continued availability of drivers to drive.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE vocational drivers to renew at the earliest opportunity, for example drivers can arrange their medical examination before receiving their renewal forms.
- Get your drivers to send applications well before the licence expiry date.
- You can use DVLA Check Driving Licence (CDL) and Access to Driver Data (ADD) services to check when the driver’s licence expires and then prompt your drivers to make an early renewal application.
- Drivers should tell DVLA about any changes in their personal details or any new medical conditions as soon as possible and not wait until their licence expires.
Licence Bureau’s Compliance Managed Service alerts has a solution in place for this and one that each customer should have in place.
Alerts:
- LGV category about to expire
- PSV category about to expire
Both of these alerts generate up to 90 days before its expiry.
Licence Bureau also have another expired alert for both once the category reaches its expiry date.
