Renewing my Driving Licence; and Linda

You gave details of jumping through hoops to get your "GOV.UK One Login", but you started off trying to renew your driving licence.

Did you manage to do that as well? Or did you spend so much time and effort on the £$%^&* "GOV.UK One Login" that you forgot all about your reason for starting the whole thing off in the first place?

I ask, because that happened to me the first time I encountered that "GOV.UK One Login" business (and I suspect I didn't actually manage to set mine up, despite going through the whole business twice).

I had to get a gov.uk one id when i wanted to change my address recently

- probably for the state pension or maybe DVLC. As you say it feels like a lot of hoops to jump through but it all worked first time for us . Its a bit odd using it though to verify ones id. The old Government Gateway which was supposed to be the portal for all government services when it was setup is now only for HMRC ie tax for me.

I renewed my driving licence earlier this year. I tried, but completely failed, to set up a "GOV.UK One Login" - you have to scan a photo card and match it to your face somehow - didn't work. Fortunately I found another online way that worked. I don't suppose it'll be so easy next time.

The GOV.UK One Login software is absolute crap. Due to our recent move we have had to change our address on all official documents etc. When it came to driving licences I managed mine without problem using the GOV.UK One Login. When it came to my wife it crashed trying to read the biometric data off her passport and then it would only display an information screen. That left two alternatives which was to use passport or driving licence data. Tried the passport first taking great care to enter details accurately checking twice, reply came back could not recognise the data on a four year old passport. Did the same with the driving licence checking the data even more carefully and got the same reply on a licence only issued in October

The irony was that when we tried again with another Gov.uk department the whole thing worked for my wife no problem. The title of GOV.UK One Login is a misnomer as it is not universal across all departments, so having one with the DVLA does not work elsewhere. What a load of bollocks!

Tricky Dicky snipped-for-privacy@sky.com wrote: [...]

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Services you can use with GOV.UK One Login At the moment, you can only use GOV.UK One Login to access some government services.

In the future, you'll be able to use it to access all services on GOV.UK.

-----------------------[end quote]------------

I had to use my GOV.UK One login so that I could create an account with HMRC. Later, I had to do the whole thing over again when I wanted to renew my driving license with DVLA. None of it was intuitive, it kept taking me down rabbit holes with no explanation.

Do they actually test these systems, using REAL people, before going live with them? Somehow, I doubt it!

A chap who is a regular on another Usenet group tried to use the GOV.UK One Login. When reading his data from his passport, it decided that his year of birth was 2047. Not too surprising then, when in later decided that something didn't add up, and refused to complete the process. Nor is it surprising that there seemed to be no way to fix _their_ data error.

Right on the 78-year-old button, Sam! I *did* get my new licence (I was congratulated on that too, and i also got a confirmatory email) ... but I could *easily* have forgotten why I was there in the first place, were it not for the roboids steering me so carefully through the jungle and safely out the other end, and _incidentally_ telling me I'd got my new licence. Bloomin' marvellous!

Thing is: I am reasonably well educated, and reasonably intelligent, and still (despite me saying above that I could have forgotten why I was there in the first place) still reasonably full of marbles. But how does the majority of the population get on?

Oh I know: the same way any 8-year-old in any playground has learned "IT" for the last decade or so ... find a kid who's done it already -- no "educated intelligence" required ;-)

AJ

I was forced to get a one of these digital IDs[1] when they decided that company directors had to prove their identity.

The process drove me up the wall and took an extended period of time...

Now keep in mind I *am* technically minded (software engineer, it consultant, engineering graduate etc, built my first computer in the early 80s when I was 11 etc) the process seemed to have been designed by by a kid with a phone centric view point.

I started the process from my desktop (why use a tiny screen and a touch keyboard unless you have to?) - seems like that they were not expecting that, so directed you to the phone. However at various stages directed me to links that just took me back to the start. It took several trips round the loop to work out that because I had started the session on a different device, you had to work out for yourself that you needed to switch back to the initial device to carry on! (this was a year or so ago - so they may have "improved" it since)

Alas that was not my experience - and I was the kid who could program the VCR to make multiple recordings on different channels! Didn't see to help.

Just to add some warm fuzzy reassurances, the gov used some Romanian contractors to build much of the code, and they worked oin unsecured locations without any standard UK gov security clearances. Turns out that when a "red team" (ethical pen testers) tried to gain access they were able to access the code base of the software remotely.

The team reported the situation to the Government Digital Service (GDS), which reacted by disbanding the risk assessment team. "

Shoot the messenger!

I am in much the same situation, retired software engineer, still involved in 'hobby' computing etc. I too had to prove my identity as a company director. After going round in several circles I gave up and got my picture verified at a local post office where it took very little time and very little hassle.

Just to add to the idiocy I am a director of two companies and although I had verified myself to companies house for one of them I had to go through an additional process of verification for the other.

There used to be a thing called Government Gateway

Oddly enough I was looking through my password manager a couple of days ago and came across the Government Gateway website. I thought that it was, at least originally, for HMRC only. I've no idea if it still works.

If they do, they are people who already understand the thinking of the programmers. I recently had to create an account to pay for parking at Stansted Airport, to collect and later drop off a relative. The website offered a link to 'Drop off and Pick Up', but when clicked, only offered Drop Off. I found what I wanted, but I had to dig for it, and even then, it never stated what I had to do to actually collect somebody and not get fined.

I hate Schiphol, and now I hate Stansted. There is a trend here.

snip

I first came across it when claiming farm payments (2010ish) and still use my original registration number to sign in for HMRC!>

One good thing about the new system is that it lets you "combine" both your driving licence and vehicle registrations in the same account. So if you change address on one it will change the other - or at least remind you to do so.

Motoring legal forums regularly see people who moved home, updated their DL address, and then get 6 point "failure to furnish" convictions or parking CCJs because the paperwork went to their old V5 address. That should no longer happen.

I thought that that was still the only way to get to HMRC (Pension/NI contributions etc). That was working for me the other day. I didn't see how to get to my Tax from the GOV.UK One login - see my other post on renewing Driving Licence

I do not recall any issues when renewing my driving licence three years ago (ah, just remembered, I did it by post!!!) In the meantime I've setup LPAs for which I had to create a GOV.UK One Login (GUOL) and I don't recall any undue issues with that process.

Last week I decided to bite the bullet and do the licence renewal on-line, especially as I now had my GUOL. Well let's say I have had had involvement in computer programming and computer systems since the mid-60s from time to time and 30 years running my own business producing commercial software for PCs/Networks and I had no idea where I was in the process. I seemed to be being sent around a loop and was being forced into having an app on my mobile which then was used to produce a selfie. Why do I want an app? Some folk feel more comfortable and secure using a PC. I'm not going to do GUOL stuff on the bus.

Anyhow, having successfully upload my selfie and getting onto the DVLA renewal process I then had to submit a photo despite their already only just having one to prove my identity. Fortunately they were able to link to my passport and kerching - email advice that the application has now been received.

If I were asked to produce a Flow Chart of the process I wouldn't know where to start, but it would look a bit like a roller coaster going into a maze then coming out at a tangent and by chance hitting the DVLA licence renewal jackpot.

mmm ... bear with ... Thought I'd just check on-line what progress:

Your driving licence should arrive by 08 September 2026. Though I have not received any email to that effect

So trust the helter-skelter, it will spit you out at the right point (eventually/sometimes/perhaps).

How can it be so bad?