I did more and contacted DVLA about what I, too, perceived as a ridiculous situation. I wrote: “What is being done to simplify the process so photocards can be renewed, online, using photos held by the Passport Agency? If such photos are less than three years old it is clearly reasonable for licence holders to expect to renew that way. Obviously, if the photos are older, then that would defeat the object of renewing the photocard at all.” The DVLA responded: “I am sorry to hear of your reader's disappointment with the current level of on-line service. I should explain that DVLA+IBk-s on-line driver licensing services have been developed quite recently and the first five driving licence transactions currently available on-line are being used to build reliability. We are looking at increasing the on-line services available and ten-year renewal of the driving licence is one of the transactions for which a web-based solution is currently being considered.” Happily, when renewing a photocard, you do not have to have your new photo authenticated. All you have to do is fill in Form D1, stick the photo in the correct place and send it to the DVLA with a cheque for £17.50. If you lost your old licence you don’t have to enclose it.