The Driving Licence Counterpart Is No More

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As of June 8th June 2015 the counterpart bit of your driving licence will no longer be valid and no new ones will be issued with new driving licences.

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.

So from June 8th if you are just starting to take your driving lessons you will need to get a code from the DVSA no more than 72hrs before your first driving lesson and give the code to your driving instructor upon your first lesson. (Please remember the code is only valid for 72 hours, after which a new code will need to be generated)

Click here to generate your code ready for your driving instructor. You will also need your national insurance number. Without this code your driving instructor will not be able to check your entitlement to drive and you may not be able to have your driving lesson as arranged. A charge for the lesson may still apply.

A further link for checking your licence entitlement can be found on our website www.2nd2nonedrivingschool.co.uk

Penalty points (endorsements)

Since 8 June 2015 new penalty points (endorsements) are only recorded electronically, and won’t be printed or written on either photocard licences or paper driving licences. From this date, if you commit an offence you’ll still have to pay any applicable fine and submit your licence to the court but the way the court deals with the paperwork has changed.
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 since 8 June 2015 neither the photocard driving licence nor the paper licence provides an accurate account of any driving endorsements you may have. Instead, this information is held on DVLA’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 toDVLA.

How to view your driving licence details

The DVSA free View Driving Licence service lets you see what details are on your licence, including what vehicles you can drive and any penalty points you may have.

Taking your theory or driving test

Since 8 June 2015, you don’t need to take your paper counterpart with you when you go for your theory or driving test. You must still take your photocard, or your old-style paper licence – your test will be cancelled and you’ll have to pay again if you don’t.

Confirming your driving record to an employer

If you drive for a living and you’re asked to provide evidence of your driving record (entitlements and/or penalty points), you can do this online for free by accessing the DVSA Share Driving Licence service. The service should be used by both paper and photocard driving licence holders. You can generate a ‘check code’ to pass to the person or organisation that needs to view your driving licence details.

If you cannot generate a code online then you can call 0300 083 0013 andDVLA will provide you with a code.

Alternatively you can call DVLA on 0300 790 6801 and leave permission for your driving record to be checked verbally by a nominated person/organisation.