Driving Tests

There were photos, and they were black and white, like passport photos used to be.

Not universally, at least not in the first 3 or 4 years. Then photos were only attached for some classes of people, where it was judged worth the effort involved in authenticating them. Eg people who needed access to protected places. And IIRC later people working on utilities. The rest were more like the medical cards which came with the NHS (which as you probably know used the 1939 register which lay behind ID cards).

But the UK was a different country back than. There was more cohesion and even in towns, most people knew their neighbourhood enough to spot an interloper.

In 2020, you would need to check every single ID card as a matter of course because most people are like me and couldn't tell you who lives in my road.

I also have my father's one. Issued when he was demobbed. No photo, but a better grade of cardboard

Interesting. The only adult ones I've seen all had b&w photos. Thinking about it, they were for residents of the northern Highlands, which I'm told was a restricted area during the war.

Certainly west of Fort William was a restricted are.

But anyone not carrying it at all times was never subject to arrest on the spot. Particularly when 19 days old.

But were not ARRESTED if they could not produce it when asked to do that.

My mother said that she needed a special pass to visit family in the Kyle of Tongue area, on the north coast.

Almost never unless there was a real doubt about whether they were a downed airman etc.

Just as true of those suspected of being enemy agents or illegals like those who had left the interments.

I presume they were denied entry or "service" to things that needed to check every single person's ID, and for all other things if you were asked for your ID you have n days to produce it at a police station as for driving licence/insurance/MOT/logbook nowadays (or at least until some of these could be checked online).

Not with most of the UK ones on here

Even those didn?t necessarily have photos

That's still a somewaht restricted area.

Whiskery-dave has already reported that he can't get into a venue of choice without showing strong ID; this is also true in my case (albeit a different venue, although also Islington). If a formal ID card exists, there is a strong likelihood that its existence will be abused by every organization who can do so, on grounds of "security", "fraud prevention", or "safety checks", or whatever, and it will then become de-facto compulsory regardless of the legal situation.

Which is rarely the kind of model that actually gets proposed or implemented. Remember the Labour governement's attempt at ID cards under Blair?

#Paul

Tell that to the motor-home-driving tourists still cluttering up the roads here.

The Government can then refuse to give them to people they don't like.

I might "have a problem" with a prospective employer's prejudices. Or his casual way of whittling down the pile of CVs with irrelevant criteria.