Motorists who try to renew their driving licences using recently issued passports face being forced to go to a post office and pay fees that are 54% higher than the online price. It is because of a glitch on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) website, and those with passports issued since 2016 are affected.
The DVLA charges £14 for online renewals by UK passport holders who use the document to verify their identity.
However, many who have tried to use post-Brexit passports have received a pop-up message saying that their application cannot continue because their passport is invalid.
Only when they call customer services are they told that a longstanding technical error is to blame.
The DVLA websites advises drivers unable to renew online to complete the process at a participating post office for a £21.50 fee.
Postal applications are available but these incur a fee of £17 plus postage, and forms have to be picked up from participating post offices.
Some applicants have had to make round trips of up to 100 miles to a post office that offers the service after being unable to renew online.
Helen Taylor, who lives in the the Highlands of Scotland, was forced to make a 100-mile round trip to the nearest post office offering DVLA services after her online application was rejected.
“My husband and I renewed our passports at the same time in 2020. My husband successfully renewed his driving licence online but I could not,” she said. “The post office required me to scribble my name with my finger on a tablet. My driving licence arrived with the crude scribble in the signature box.”
The technical glitch has been caused by the removal of digital signatures from passports in 2016. The change, introduced by the Passport Office (HMPO), was designed to speed up online passport applications by dispensing with signed supplementary forms and printed photos. Passports are now signed by the owner on receipt.
However, the reform has slowed down some online applications for driving licences because the DVLA transposes digital signatures held by HMPO on to photocard permits.
If HMPO does not hold a digital signature for an applicant, a signed form must be submitted.
The form can only be obtained from certain post office, and, if applicants mail it themselves, the process takes up to six weeks instead of the five days for online submissions.
Applications can be submitted digitally via a post office and take five days but they cost more, and only 1,200 of the UK’s 11,775 post office branches offer the service. The current service will cease altogether next March, when the DVLA’s contract with the Post Office ends.
At the time of writing, the DVLA website made no mention of the technical problem, leaving some applicants fearing that their passport is invalid.
A spokesperson for the agency says an announcement is unnecessary as insignificant numbers are affected, although it admits that those numbers are unknown. However, a customer service agent told one rejected applicant that the problem was “widespread”, in a web chat seen by the Guardian.
People who applied for their first passport after January 2017 are particularly affected, including recently naturalised citizens, but some who have been UK passport holders for decades report the same problems. The issue does not affect applicants for provisional licences who, unlike other drivers, can upload their signature on the DVLA website.
Nigel Barnett, who has arthritis, was told by a DVLA agent that he would have to travel to the nearest participating post office to renew his licence because his newly issued passport did not hold a digital signature.
“It was an hour and a half’s trip, an increased fee and a long wait for something I should have been able to do online in 10 minutes,” he says. “I can’t walk far due to arthritis in my knees, and the queueing caused me a lot of pain.”
Some drivers who contacted the Guardian claimed that the post office was unable to offer its digital application service when they visited. Instead, they had to apply by post and pay for tracked delivery. Since many no longer have chequebooks, they also had to pay for a postal order to cover the £17 fee. One woman waited 10 weeks for her licence to arrive when the technical issue forced her to apply by post.
The DVLA pledged in 2021 that the problem would be resolved by the end of the year. It made the same claim in 2022. However, despite years of complaints, it remains unaddressed.
A DVLA spokesperson said: “For the vast majority of drivers choosing to renew their driving licence online, we are able to use the digital signature directly from the Passport Office. For those who do not have a signature on file with the Passport Office, we are currently working on a solution which will allow them to apply online, which we hope to launch later this year.”
