Almost a million drivers at risk of receiving£1,000 fine – could you be one of them?

According to new data released by the Driver and Licencing Agency (DVLA), almost one million UK drivers could receive a £1,000 fine because they have not renewed their expired photocard licences.

Following an FOI investigation from the Press Association, figures from the DVLA revealed that the driving licences of more than 926,000 people in Britain on September 3 2022 were out of date in the 12 months to the end of August.

Although a small number of these cases cover people who have stopped driving altogether and not telling the DVLA; this still accounts for over 2% of all drivers in Britain.

The same Freedom of Information request found that plenty of drivers who do renew are cutting it fine; in the last 12 months, 2.5 million drivers in Britain renewed their licence after it had already expired or within 56 days of the expiry date.

Driving licence photocards must be renewed every ten years up until the age of 70, where they must be renewed every three years to legally be allowed to drive on our roads.

And according to DVLA rules, failing to return an expired licence is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 – and this can lead to a fine of up to £1,000.