Hi Just thought I'd give a quick update. I sent the below letter to the CPS and they dropped the charge of driving without a valid licence!! To whom it may concern, I invite you to discontinue the following charge brought against myself: 1. Drove a motor vehicle otherwise in accordance with a licence authorising you to drive a motor vehicle of that class. Contrary to section 87 (1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. (offence carries penalty points). I immediately renewed my licence (please find copies enclosed) and therefore this charge should be discontinued as per the code for Crown Prosecutors and the interests of justice and public interests tests which must be applied. Yours sincerely It's great news and my insurance company have agreed to write a letter confirming that the expired photo card didn't invalidate my insurance policy. They confirmed with the DVLA that the licence had been renewed and said that they posted the letter yesterday! So hopefully, the driving without insurance charge will be dropped too!!

I phoned my insurance to check this and they said that driving with an expired photo card wouldn't invalidate my policy with them! So this means that the 2nd charge, driving without valid insurance, isn't true at all!! I'm getting this in writing from my insurer to send to the court in hope that they'll drop the charge.

But they didn't charge me with Section 99 and Im not sure that Section 87 (which they did charge me with) is valid as my licence wasn't expired-only the photo was

Thanks for this Crem-I have been in touch with a solicitor who agrees that the photo card expiring doesn't invalidate the licence and that this therefore means that my insurance may also have been valid. I'm sending the paperwork across for them to look through. There will be a cost to this but it will be cheaper than paying £1000 fine for each charge and the increased insurance premiums that the points on my licence will bring!! I'll let you know the outcome as I'm sure I'm not the only person that this has happened to.

Hi i hope this is the right place to post this as I need some advice. A couple of months ago I was stopped because one of my headlights was out. After giving my details it turns out that my licence had expired. A couple of days ago I received a summons for 1-driving a motor vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence authorising you to drive a motor vehicle of that class. Contrary to section 87(1) of the RTA 1988 and Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 2-used a motor vehicle on a road or other public place when there was not in force in relation to that use such a policy of insurance as complied with the requirements of Part VI of the Road Traffic Offencder Act 1988. Contrary to section 143 of the RTA 1988 and Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 I agree that charge 1 is correct as my photo card licence had expired, however, is this enforceable as I am entitled to hold a licence until I am 70 years old. Am I correct in thinking this? If so, should I plead guilty or not guilty? Is there any way I could put together some sort of letter outlining this (I immediately renewed my licence) asking for the charge to be discontinued? Also, would this have an impact on the 2nd charge of driving without valid insurance? Thanks for any help anyone is able to give.