A FREEDOM of Information request has revealed that British drivers are spending more than £50k a day replacing lost licences.
The data came from the DVLA and showed results between 2018 and 2022.
1
Conducted by Lease Fetcher the study found that The DVLA earns millions of pounds every year, and tens of thousands of pounds every day on people replacing their licence.
The FOI request revealed that a massive 3,501,972 licences were replaced between 2018 – 2021.
The standard fee to replace a lost licence is £20, meaning British drivers spent just over £70 million during the 4-year period.
That in turn means the DVLA pulled in an average of £17.5 million every year between 2018-2021.
This amounts to British drivers forking out an average of £48k every day – the equivalent to one lost licence being replaced every minute.
2019 was the costliest year, with drivers spending an average of £55.4k every day on licence replacements.
The FOI request also found that, although there may be some British drivers who can’t keep a hold of their licence, there are also some who will try anything to get one.
In 2021 there were 386 identified cases of fake or forged driving licences submitted to the DVLA.
This is a significant 15% increase from the previous year, where 335 cases were identified during application processing.
The DVLA — suffering delays from staff absences and Covid — has offered some useful tips for getting your documents quicker.
The DVLA website said: “As a result of Covid and the impact of previous industrial action, there are ongoing delays processing paper applications.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and our staff are working hard to reduce waiting times.
“There may be additional delays in processing more complex cases, for example, if medical investigations are needed as part of your driving licence application.”
The DVLA website states: “Our online services are working as normal and without delay.
“This is the quickest, easiest, and often cheapest way to deal with us.
“We recommend that you use our online services where possible.”
If you apply online you should receive your driving licence or vehicle registration certificate, V5C, within five days.
Drivers using paper applications to renew their licence with a new photo will have to wait the longest.
For all the latest Automobiles News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
