New Driving Licence Criticised

The Labour opposition has hit out at changes to the driving licence.

The paper counterpart to the driving licence was scrapped last week, meaning that drivers wishing to rent abroad now have to rely on an online-only service.

The Shadow Transport Minister, Richard Burdon, hit out at the new system in a session of Transport Questions, saying: "This was the week ministers boasted they were going to cut red tape when the counterpart driving licence would be replaced by an online system.

"Good objective but the trouble is the DVLA computer system has already crashed under the strain, motorists now find if you want to hire a car abroad you have to contact the DVLA online and be given a code to access the same information you would have had in your pocket before.

"And if you don't get the car hired in three days after you've got the code, you've got to go back to square one because the code will have expired.

"You could not make it up: cutting red tape? It's a mess isn't it?"

The system used to check registrations abroad crashed on the first day of operations but has been operational since. The Transport Secretary defended the new system, highlighting the benefits of going paperless, such as ease of use.

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