Badge renewal time. This involves a long trip to the council offices, then a long wait to be seen, all for 30 seconds whilst an officer takes a photocopy of your driving licence. All the documents and application pack could be posted but they insist on taking a copy themselves because they need to see sight of the original driving licence.
Then a few years ago we had to fill in a driving licence mandate, this gives the council permission to contact the DVLA to check your licence details. Great I thought, now I can post my application. But no. They still want a copy of your driving licence which they have to do as one provided by the driver might have been tampered with ! I enquired why they need a physical copy when they have the mandate to check with the DVLA - it's just easier for us was the reply. Why bother filling in the mandate if you're not going to use it then ? It just gives us more options was the reply !
Now we have to go online to the DVLA and generate a licence checker code to give to the council - they can then use this code online which gives them full access to all your licence details, no need to see the original licence or take copies, OR SO I THOUGHT
So I posts my application including the licence checker code and today gets a phone call - 'we cant process your application without a copy of your driving licence, we need to see the original and take a photocopy'. BUT YOU HAVE THE CODE, YOU CAN SEE MY LICENCE ONLINE AND PRINT IT OUT !!!
'Yes, but we still need to see the original'
https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence