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No more counterpart – UK driving licence changes

The paper part of a driving licence was introduced in 1998 as a way to display information that couldn’t fit on the photocard, such as penalty points.  The DVLA announced that from the 8th June the paper counterpart will no longer be treated as a legal document.

However, this doesn’t mean that employers can’t find out if you have any penalty points! As well as you being able to check your details efficiently and for free, the new online service will allow you to generate a code which you can give to your employer if they need to check which vehicles you are licensed to drive and if you have any penalty points or disqualifications. You can view the details on your licence here

https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence  and make enquiries by phone too on 0300 790 6801.

If your paper licence was issued to you before the photocard was introduced in 1998 then it will remain valid so don’t destroy it, keep it safe! And these changes don’t apply at the moment in Northern Ireland, where the counterpart is still used. Find out more about the new system by visiting www.gov.uk/dvla/nomorecounterpart

2015 European Car of the Year shortlist announced

So if you are thinking of a new car next year, you might want to wait until the results of the 2015 European Car of the Year have been announced.

The shortlist is out, whittled down to seven from thirty one new cars and to qualify all contenders must have sold or be expected to sell at least 5,000 vehicles. Those who made it through to the grid are the BMW 2-series Active Tourer, Citroën C4 Cactus, Ford Mondeo, Mercedes-Benz C-class, Nissan Qashqai, Renault Twingo and Volkswagen Passat. And there’s quite a crowd to pass judgement as 58 jurors from 22 European countries will consider the cars based on design, safety, comfort and value for money.

Last year’s winner was the Peugeot 308 but we’ll have to wait until March 2015 on the eve of the Geneva Motor show to hear which is the European car of the year 2015. To read up on the hopeful winning features of the line-up take a look here  http://www.caroftheyear.org/

P.S. if you can’t wait that long and need to dispose of your old car now we can scrap a car anytime and offer free scrap car removal……….