Expired driving licence question

ezra_

This is a genuine 'asking for a friend' question.

Or more to the point, I'm nosy about what may happen to a friend.

Friend got stopped while driving, he did something to attract the attention of the guards and when stopped, he realised* that his license was out of date (by some months).

*For the sake of this post, let us say he just realised at this point.

He was given 10 days to produce the license, tax, and insurance at a station.
Assuming he can get a license sorted from the NDLS, is he going to be fine (tax and insurance were fine). Or will they check the issue date against the date of the offense? If the latter, what is the likely outcome (given that he wasn't in Judge Zaidan's jurisdiction!).

Cheers!

L1011

You can't drive with an expired licence but I believe the potential punishment is quite limited.

One major thing is that car insurers usually have "hold or held" as the specification for a licence so it doesn't usually have any impact there - obviously no longer holding due to a ban is different. Well worth verifying this ASAP though.

Licence renewal period for me was extremely short earlier in the year - three or four days I think - so if they get to the NDLS tomorrow at opening they could have it on Friday. I'm not sure whether producing the expired to the Guards before going to renew it may be a better idea though - someone else may have more useful opinions there. If a licence is expired the NDLS take it; you only get to retain it if it has some decent validity left and even that may be down to the discretion of the counter staff.

nuac

Mod

Title amended for clarity

hullaballoo

This arises every so often. There may be a penalty for not having a valid licence when stopped as there is a requirement to have your "licence" with you when driving but the expiry of the piece of paper ("licence") that represents your licence to drive is not the same as driving without a licence.

There has been a suggestion here previously that your actual physical licence is held in Shannon by the dept of transport. I know not how true that is but the piece of paper (or card if you've obtained/renewed recently) is not your licence as such, just an official document to say you are licensed.

I would caveat this post by saying I may be misremembering the previous threads but I am confident that an expired piece of paper does not equate to unlicensed driving if you get me.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

GM228

hullaballoo wrote: »

This arises every so often. There may be a penalty for not having a valid licence when stopped as there is a requirement to have your "licence" with you when driving but the expiry of the piece of paper ("licence") that represents your licence to drive is not the same as driving without a licence.

Actually, they are the same hullaballoo. The offence of driving without driving licence is based on a licence which at the time is "having effect" and is specifically based on the period of validity of the licence, a licence which is between 0-12 months out of date is subject to a fine of up to €1000, anything over 12 months is up to €2000.

S38 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as amended.

hullaballoo wrote: »

There has been a suggestion here previously that your actual physical licence is held in Shannon by the dept of transport. I know not how true that is but the piece of paper (or card if you've obtained/renewed recently) is not your licence as such, just an official document to say you are licensed.

I disagree with that and so does the Road Traffic Act 1961 and the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 2006.

The actual "driving licence" is the actual card you hold in your hand as prescribed under the 2006 regulations as amended. What is held in Shannon is your "licence record" established under the Finance Acts, it is simply a record of your licence information and any endorsements/disqualifications etc, not the licence itself which as I stated and with which legislation agrees is the document you hold in your hand.

GM228

ezra_ wrote: »

He was given 10 days to produce the license, tax, and insurance at a station.

Gardaí can not make a lawful demand for production of motor tax within 10 days, they can only do such for licence, NCT/CVRT or insurance.

ezra_

GM228 wrote: »

Gardaí can not make a lawful demand for production of motor tax within 10 days, they can only do such for licence, NCT/CVRT or insurance.

That is probably what they did - he mentioned tax, which I found odd actually.

coylemj

GM228 wrote: »

Gardaí can not make a lawful demand for production of motor tax within 10 days, they can only do such for licence, NCT/CVRT or insurance.

Ever if they had such a power, they'd never need to exercise it because they can check on their system if the car is taxed or not.

GM228

coylemj wrote: »

Ever if they had such a power, they'd never need to exercise it because they can check on their system if the car is taxed or not.

They can also check NCT, but yet still afford 10 days to produce the NCT.