
What to do if your driving licence is either lost or stolen
Contact your local police station or call 101 to report a stolen full or provisional licence. They will then give you a crime reference number. This can be important if your licence is used for fraudulent activity later on. If you've misplaced it, this isn't a necessary step, but can be a good idea if you think there's a chance it might have been stolen.
Apply for a replacement licence through the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) website if you are in England, Scotland and Wales (or the DVA in Northern Ireland), or by phone and post. If you are applying by post, you will need to complete and send the D1 application for a driving licence form, which is available from most post offices. You can also apply by phone, but only if you have a photocard driving licence and none of your details have changed. A new licence costs £20.
Keep an eye on your bank accounts for any suspicious activity, just in case your licence is being used for identity theft. It is a good idea to notify your bank, too, so they can flag any suspicious activity.
Consider getting identity theft protection if you are worried about fraud. These services monitor your credit for any unusual activity. You can apply for protective registration with Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service – this costs £30 for two years. Experian's Identity Plus offers a similar service – it's free for 30 days and £10.99 a month after.
In the UK you are allowed to drive while you wait for a new licence to arrive.
Once you have reported the theft or loss, and completed an application for a replacement licence, you should receive a new one within a week. Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself in future:
Make a record of your new driving licence number – it's the unique 16-character code that can be found underneath the licence's expiry date.
Keep it in a secure place, to avoid losing it, or having it stolen again. If the police pull you over while driving, you're allowed up to a week to take your licence into your local police station, so you don't need to carry it on you at all times.
Set up alerts for your bank accounts to stay ahead of any large or unusual transactions, and be extra cautious with your personal details in the future.
If you find your old licence after you've applied for, or received, a new one, you need to return it to the DVLA with a note explaining what has happened. You can find the address on the Gov.uk website.
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Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
‘Middle-lane hoggers aren't just annoying – they pose a real safety hazard'
As we head towards the UK's motorways for day trips and lengthy breaks, members of the 'Middle Lane Owners Club', oblivious to the inconvenience and danger they are generating by hogging the centre lane on motorways, could face disqualification and an unlimited fine if their ignorance is found to have led to a serious road accident. And about time too, you're probably thinking. It's not a new law, but leading traffic offence lawyer Nick Freeman (aka Mr Loophole) says he can't ever remember a prosecution for the plague of lane hogging on UK motorways in an era when the Road Haulage Association says jams and delays costs drivers £968 each a year. Freeman reckons that it is time to clamp down on lane hoggers and develop motorway cameras to track and prosecute those drivers who cause delay – or leave carnage in their middle lane wake. An everyday occurrence Like many drivers I find UK motorways incredibly frustrating. For example, midweek, at about 10.30am, I'm on the M6, heading south. When traffic starts to congest and slow, it's no real surprise. The middle lane, or lane two as the motorway authorities call it, is becoming crowded with HGVs tailgating vans and cars, and the familiar concertina-effect of speeding up and slowing down develops. Accidents in waiting. The traffic rhythm has all the trademarks of a slow-moving oversized load in lane one ahead, but you can sense drivers are getting tetchy: they don't know what's causing the delay. I reach the front of the jam. But there's no lane closure, no oversized load – only a grey Peugeot 3008, a Toyota Corolla private hire taxi and a 15-year-old Lexus, nose-to-tail at 65mph in the middle lane, the inside lane empty. They pass under a matrix sign: in huge letters it says 'KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING' – and they stay exactly where they are. I can see in my mirrors that's the case long after I pass. Existing penalties At the lower end of the penalty scale, in simple terms driving without reasonable consideration for other road users – in this context hogging centre or outside lanes, oblivious to the delay to other road users – can mean three points and a £100 fixed penalty. But if lane hogging generates such frustration for other road users that a serious accident results, that offence, part of the laws covering driving without due care and attention, carries a penalty of between three and nine points, or a period of disqualification and an unlimited fine in the most serious cases, said Paul Loughlin of solicitors Stephensons. 'The offence of driving without due care and attention is made out if the standard of driving alleged can be said to fall below that of a competent and careful driver. Middle-lane hogging is an example of this,' he says. The police view A police motorway patrol officer, commenting on such driving standards, told me: 'There are drivers who are never involved in accidents, but who see them in their mirrors – if they use them. 'You see 40-tonne HGVs tailgating a car hogging the middle lane, lane one empty, and the car driver is oblivious to the proximity of the HGV, chatting to passengers or simply zoned out. But it's the truck driver who is committing the more serious offence, potentially of 'dangerous driving', with no chance of avoiding a collision in an emergency.' Lawyer Freeman is a 50,000 miles-a-year driver, so speaks for many UK road users, and says that lane hogging is part of endemic poor lane discipline. Mandatory motorway testing 'Can I tell you how rare it is to be prosecuted for lane hogging? Literally never,' he says. 'Some people haven't got a clue which lane to be in. In my view, it should be mandatory for learners to be taught and tested on the motorway. 'Some people are terrified of motorways, while there are probably a million-plus drivers who took their test abroad and are unfamiliar with how UK motorways operate. 'The remedies are the driving test, familiarisation and being tested on The Highway Code at least every 10 years, as well as stigmatising people who hog the middle lane. But it only works if you have a police presence and there are prosecutions. 'Fail your 10-year test and your licence should be suspended until you pass.' Is technology the answer? Freeman says UK motorway cameras combined with AI technology should be developed to pick up middle-lane hogging, with the technology used to prosecute offenders. 'Let's have a month's education on television about lane hogging: 'This is how you need to drive. And then we're going to start using cameras to prosecute people',' he says. The motorway operator's view National Highways, which is responsible for the operation of motorways in England, has more than 1,500 cameras observing multi-lane roads. 'Middle-lane hogging frustrates drivers, increases congestion and can lead to collisions, which is why we regularly display advice [on overhead signs] to help improve driving habits,' said a spokesman. 'Always allow plenty of room between you and the vehicle in front and, unless overtaking, move into the left-hand lane. Safety messages around lane hogging is something we look to repeat on a quarterly basis to help remind drivers of good habits.' However, it's understood that current camera technology on the motorway network is unsuitable for enforcement action against middle-lane hogging. It's unclear what sort of modification would be required to enable it. Safety hazard Edmund King, the president of the AA, says middle-lane hogs are among the top pet hates of AA members: 'They are more than just an annoyance, they pose a real safety hazard. By blocking the middle lane when there is space on the inside, drivers impede the ability of other vehicles to overtake safely, potentially leading to tailgating or road rage. 'Some drivers take the law into their own hands by undertaking the hogger, which can be dangerous, or by teaching them a lesson by overtaking and then swooping closely in front of them into the inside lane. Neither is recommended…' Freeman confirms: 'Such 'swooping' can be an offence in itself. Complete the overtake, leave space, then indicate left and indicate again before moving into the inside lane.' King adds that lane hoggers potentially reduce road capacity by up to one third by wasting an entire lane, while those 'keep left unless overtaking' signs should be used more. It's sometimes said that embarrassment is the most effective in driving change, so Freeman is probably right: stigmatise and ridicule The Middle Lane Owners Club.


The Guardian
11 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Epping asylum hotel protesters ‘upset for legitimate reasons', minister says
Protesters outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping are 'upset for legitimate reasons', a cabinet minister has said, as police brace for further unrest over the coming days. Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, said there was 'huge frustration that is shared by the government' about the asylum system and the pressures it created on housing. Police have issued a dispersal order at Epping following a series of demonstrations outside the Bell hotel, which broke out after an Ethiopian asylum seeker who had recently arrived on a small boat was charged with sexual assault against a local girl. Hundreds of people, many of them local residents, have been participating in the protests. Far-right activists have become involved in promoting them online and have been present, in some cases clashing with police. Police officers are braced for further protests on Thursday evening and over the weekend. Asked whether he was worried about the unrest spreading, Reynolds told Sky News the government, police and other enforcement agencies were 'prepared for all situations'. 'I think what we've got to talk about is: why are people unhappy with, say, the asylum system? Are they reasonable? Are they upset for legitimate reasons? Yes, we share those as a government,' he said. 'That is why we are sorting it out. 'And I understand the frustrations people have, but ultimately, you solve those frustrations and solve the problem by fixing and getting a grip of the core issue, which is what we're doing.' Reynolds said the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers in the UK had halved from 400 to about 200. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Reynolds said there was 'frustration, huge frustration, that is shared by the government, I think what people felt under the last government was that it was completely out of control'. 'There is clearly more to do but that came from an asylum system where there wasn't a proper grip of it ... We are starting to change that, the number of claims is up, the number of deportations is up, there are fewer asylum hotels.' Reynolds said 'the solution is not putting people in different forms of accommodation, it's about having a system where if people shouldn't be in the UK, they have to leave the UK.' He added that voters were unhappy about the way net migration had continued to rise after Brexit and felt 'that was not the deal that they voted for', saying: 'You can be pro-talent and people coming to the UK and also say there's got to be control, there's got to be limits.' Tiff Lynch, the chair of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, warned police could be diverted from neighbourhood duties to keep the peace at protests if the unrest spread over the summer. In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Lynch said the protests in Epping were a 'signal flare' for more and that police officers were being 'pulled in every direction'. 'It is dangerous to assume that they can continue to hold the line indefinitely, without the support they need or the recognition they deserve,' she wrote. Essex police have issued a dispersal order in Epping that is in force from 2pm on Thursday until 8am on Friday. It gives officers the power to tell anyone suspected of committing or planning antisocial behaviour to leave the area or face arrest.


BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
Inside BBC Verify: Analysing strikes in Russia, Gaza aid and latest crime numbers
Update: Date: 09:55 BST Title: Thursday's BBC Verify Live Content: Tom EdgingtonBBC Verify live editor Good morning and welcome to Thursday's edition of BBC Verify Live. It's already a busy start for our open source and data journalists who are digging into several developing stories. In Gaza, we're continuing our work to understand how much aid is actually reaching the Strip. In Russia, a drone strike hit the city of Sochi overnight, reportedly killing one person. The strike also caused a huge blaze at an oil depot, which our team has already confirmed. Elsewhere, at least 12 Thai civilians have been killed in crossfire, as Thai and Cambodian troops clash. We'll explain how we verified the footage. Closer to home, the latest crime statistics for England and Wales have just been released. Our head of statistics is analysing what the data tells us. If there's anything you want BBC Verify to look into you can always get in touch using this form.