HGV Driver licences and Driver Qualification Card

It is strongly advised that Bus, Coach and Lorry drivers still holding the old paper licence exchange their paper driving licence.

If you fall into this category of driver and hold a British paper driving licence you are being asked to exchange it for a photocard licence so that you may receive a driver qualification card (DQC) at no cost.

If you abide by this suggestion, drivers with a photocard licence will then receive their DQC automatically once they have passed the Driver CPC initial qualification or completed 35 hours of periodic training, the reason behind this is that the same photograph may be used for both documents.

The £20 photocard licence fee will, sadly, still be payable but drivers will then benefit by receiving their DQC free of charge, which could effectively save them up to £30 over the 10-year photocard licence period. Drivers who chose to leave the exchange of their licence until after the completion of their training are advised by the Driving Standards Agency that there could be a risk of a delay in receiving their DQC. It is possible for Drivers to apply to exchange their licence by post, on line, or by dropping off their application at DVLA local offices and selected Post Office branches.

To find out more on how to exchange your paper licence visit http://direct.gov.uk/exchangelicence.