Problem with licence

iwantacar2

Hi all,

Motors is the most suitable place I could find for this but if anyone knows of a better one let me know!

An old friend of mine is in a spot of bother. She has had a licence for decades now but it expired a few months ago. When she was going to renew it she realised that the date of birth on it is wrong. When she thought about it she figured it had been this way since she got it and that it was always renewed with the wrong date of birth. She wants to sort it out but doesn't know how. She's afraid that she could end up off the road or even in jail no matter what she does. So now she's driving as little as possible and hoping that no guard ever realises the licence is out of date! She's really stressed over it though.

Has anyone ever heard of a similar case or have any suggestions on what to do?


Thanks

Tipsy Mac

How much is the date of birth out by, are we talking decades or a couple of months?

iwantacar2

Only 3 months. It says April when it should be July.

Tipsy Mac

That shouldn't be too much of a problem, I'd say contact the Dept Of Environment about it and they will correct it when issueing the new one. Driving around with an out of date licence could invalidate their insurance, either don't drive or get the licence sorted.

Thoie

I'd go in with passport/birthcert etc and explain that when you looked at the old license to renew it you noticed the birthdate was incorrect. If the day and year are right, 4 and 7 are right above each other on the keyboard, so it's possible that someone just hit 4 instead of 7 at some stage.

iwantacar2

Would it be as simple as that though? From the authority's point of view every time she renewed the licence she lied about her date of birth. They could see it as fraud. Admittedly there wouldn't be much of a reason for having a fake date of birth on a licence but I suppose people might try it deliberately to have 2 identities.

Bogger77

Shouldn't be a massive issue, my mum's license rarely had the correct year of birth.
Just look to amend it by calling the dept of Env.

License is valid for 5 years, post expiry, assuming the holder doesn't hit 70 in that time, for insurance purposes.

Del2005

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

That shouldn't be too much of a problem, I'd say contact the Dept Of Environment about it and they will correct it when issueing the new one. Driving around with an out of date licence could invalidate their insurance, either don't drive or get the licence sorted.

AFAIK your insurance is still valid with an out of date licence as most policies say have or had a licence for the category of vehicle you are driving.

Tipsy Mac

They should have spotted it when they issued the licence, normally stuff like this is checked against your PPS number to see that you actually exist at that age, someone must have been on the beer the night before

iwantacar2

Did your mom's licence get corrected without any hassle bogger??

I think the PPS is the main thing scaring her now tbh. When she renewed the licence last over 10 years ago now I suppose the computer systems were as good as they are now! Maybe if she rings tomorrow she'll get someone full of the joys of xmas who'll happily fix it for her! Could take some convincing to get her to ring though!

Bogger77

Yeah, it's all sorted now
But my guess is ur mates license pre dated use of PPS/PRSI numbers so they took what ever was wrote on the form initially, and ever since it's just been re-issued so no checks against pps were done,

iwantacar2

Just thinking about the insurance thing, what I'm worried about with that is whether her insurance would actually have to pay a claim if it came to light about her wrong date of birth. Technically they've insured a non-existant person!

iwantacar2

Yea Bogger, as far as I know it was applied for in those olden times! I don't know if that makes it better or worse. Like it means that either whoever dealt with the application read it wrong or she somehow filled in her own date of birth wrong. The second option could definitely lead to fraudulent thoughts!

Del2005

iwantacar2 wrote: »

Just thinking about the insurance thing, what I'm worried about with that is whether her insurance would actually have to pay a claim if it came to light about her wrong date of birth. Technically they've insured a non-existant person!

Insurance is based on good faith. The person never knew their licence was wrong so there should be no issues.

sdanseo

Either way the person concerned needs to get it dealt with before the licence is useless as a renewal tool and she needs to sit the test again. Not sure how long after expiry you have to do this so get the skates on.

iwantacar2

Do insurance companies really practice good faith?? I think she has 5 years after the licence expires before she'd have to do the test again.

Pkiernan

iwantacar2 wrote: »

Would it be as simple as that though? From the authority's point of view every time she renewed the licence she lied about her date of birth. They could see it as fraud. Admittedly there wouldn't be much of a reason for having a fake date of birth on a licence but I suppose people might try it deliberately to have 2 identities.

I think you/she is reading too much into this incident. We are not living in Stalinist Russia. She will not get into any trouble at all.

galwaytt

iwantacar2 wrote: »

...... The second option could definitely lead to fraudulent thoughts!

LOL, conspiracy theorists of the world unite ! :rolleyes:

Anyhoo, to put the cat amongst the pigeons for a minute, and let's throw 'good faith' out the window for a minute, I'd argue (don't I always ) that renewal of licence is........'not an offer to buy, but solicitation of an offer to sell'

iwantacar2

Well we are both the kind to think far too much into things!

You've lost me galwaytt! Are you thinking that because they're "selling" it with the wrong DOB it's their fault or have I that completely wrong??

tin79

I wouldnt fret about it just get it sorted.

I dont think jail is on the cards your friend worries too much.

*Kol*

I wouldn't worry about it. The same can happen with your address if you move house before your current license expires. The address will be incorrect until you renew again.

Even though your friends date of birth was incorrect, at least she had a license. On the renewal form she just has to fill in her correct date of birth for her new license. If she is getting it renewed at the tax office she should mention it to them to make sure it's correct on the new license they issue.

jimmyw

iwantacar2 wrote: »

Do insurance companies really practice good faith?? I think she has 5 years after the licence expires before she'd have to do the test again.

Wrong, the licence has to have expired for 10 years before you have to do the theory test, learners permit, an test etc.