Abolition Of The Counterpart Licence

On the 8th June 2015 the ‘Abolition Of The Counterpart Licence’ will take place. This means that the paper part of your photo card driving licence will no longer be required and in fact the government are advising they you destroy them.

Please note: if you have a paper licence issued before 1998 when the photo cards were intoduced, DO NOT destroy it.

This applies purely to the paper counter part of a licence that shows the points and convictions.

This could potentially cause a number of problems but the main one relevant to hiring cars is the fact that most suppliers request to see your counterpart before allowing you to drive away.

Surprisingly enough the government/DVLA have thought about this and created a way that you can share your information with rental companies, employers and anyone who may need to see them.

Watch this video:

As with any new system or way of doing things I imagaine there will be teething problems but as an idea i think its great and its one less piece of paper to worry about when travelling.

I look forward to the day that this happens with passports too.