Digi Card change of address WARNING

IF YOU NEED TO CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS ON YOUR LICENCE AND DIGICARD READ THIS… ITS IMPORTANT!!!

Apparently at the DVLA, they process the Digital Tachograph Smart Cards (Digicards) faster than they process Driving Licences, and will always reject a change of address on a Digicard if the address is different to your Driving Licence…!

When you go to your local DVLA office to tell of a change of address, when you fill out the forms make sure you always keep your old Digicard & NEVER hand it over to the DVLA.

If they insist that you hand your Digi card over, tell them to call the DVLA Digicard hotline at Swansea!! (Tel 0870 8501074) (if you give your card up, and you have the problems that I had below, you wont be able to drive without a card after 15 days)

When your new Digicard is ready the DVLA will phone you or send you a letter asking you which local DVLA office you wish to collect it from, take your old Digicard (you will still be using it) with you, and they will exchange it for the new one.

Chicken before the Egg Story

I’ve just moved house, so I had to change my Driving Licence & Digital Tachograph-card (Digi Card) to my new address.

Luckily I went to my local DVLA office and completed the paperwork for my LGV Driving Licence and my Digi-Card at the same time, they took them both from me and gave me a yellow recipt.

14 days later the DVLA sent me a letter telling me they could not process my new Digicard with the new address because my driving licence still had my old address on it…!

I phoned them up and told them that my Driving Licence had been sent away for a change of address at the same time as my Digicard from the local DVLA offices but I got nowhere.

So I had to re-apply for my Digicard again at the local DVLA office, problem was I didn’t have my old Digicard because the bloke at the counter insisted that I hand it in the first time I applied.

After a bit of ranting they decided to phone the DVLA Digicard section, who agreed that they shouldn’t have taken the old card in the first place, and said they would send it back to me at my new address.

I couldn’t apply for my new Digicard until my new Driving Licence (which is posted out to your new address by the DVLA) arrived at my new home.

25 days later my new licence arrived at my new address, I could then apply for my digicard change of address… I was without my Digicard for 31 days, what a shambles!

NEVER HAND IN YOUR OLD CARD UNTIL YOUR NEW CARD IS READY TO BE COLLECTED…!

www.contractdriver.co.uk

Thats shocking

I am moving soon too , might have to hold back my tacho card if thats the case .

The change of address form for the digi tacho card makes it quite clear that you keep hold of your old card until you visit the vosa office / test station of your choice to swap it for the new one. Any other method would mean you had a period of not being able to drive your truck which is clearly not acceptable.

The way to do it is to send your licence off first as normal, wait for it to come back updated, then get the same form you used to get your digi card in the first place and send that off together with your (newly updated) licence, and then they’ll send your licence back in the post and tell you that your card is ready to collect from whatever test station you put on the form. You then go to said test station and swap old for new.

Paul

you wont be able to drive without a card after 15 days

Yes you can.
I spoke to VOSA on this matter a few months ago and they said 15 days is used as a guide to how long to expect for your new card to come through. However, you can go over the 15 day bit, just give them a bell at Swansea, let them know whats going on, that should clear you.

pugwash:

you wont be able to drive without a card after 15 days

Yes you can.
I spoke to VOSA on this matter a few months ago and they said 15 days is used as a guide to how long to expect for your new card to come through. However, you can go over the 15 day bit, just give them a bell at Swansea, let them know whats going on, that should clear you.

I hope they also give you a translation of that in French and German

pugwash:
I spoke to VOSA on this matter a few months ago and they said 15 days is used as a guide to how long to expect for your new card to come through. However, you can go over the 15 day bit, just give them a bell at Swansea, let them know whats going on, that should clear you.

That’s interesting, because when Swansea messed up my change of address by sending it to the wrong test station the man on the phone there (after going off and asking someone) said he was very sorry but the 15 day rule was rigid and couldn’t be extended even though the fact that I had no card was their fault and not mine. Tread carefully.

Paul

Appears that the 1st rule of the DVLA applied in this case:

“We the DVLA have a complete inability to do two things in the one transaction. Therefore you’ll need to make separate applications on separate occasions to get anything done properly.”

Sorry about being thick.

But what is concerning me at the moment about changing Digicard is the data on the card. I’ve changed the address on my licence and I know about sending it away to get the new card. But what happens when you collect the new card, I know you give them the old one and they give you the new one. But you need to have your current weeks records and the previous 28 days records with you when you are driving. I’ve been told by a number of people its ok, as long as you’ve downloaded the data at your place of work but surely you need those records with you if you are stopped by the police or VOSA.

Can they transfer the data from the old card to the new one when you go and collect the new card?

CW

Thankfully this is not a problem for me as i have a British licence registered at my mums house in the UK and a Spanish digi card issued by the Spanish. They dont care a monkeys what the address is on my licence!!

Interesting thought here…theoretically i could apply for a British digi card too, but maybe thats illegal - and would it be any use?

Hombre:
Thankfully this is not a problem for me as i have a British licence registered at my mums house in the UK and a Spanish digi card issued by the Spanish. They dont care a monkeys what the address is on my licence!!

Interesting thought here…theoretically i could apply for a British digi card too, but maybe thats illegal - and would it be any use?

Yes but they got to find the second card when you Get pulled.

I recently moved, and changed my address on my Driving Licence.

As for the Digi-card, I really can’t be bothered. Yes I know it’s probably
wrong, but for heavens-sake, it’s the licence that matters.
So what if the card address is wrong…DVLA should put their house in order,
link the systems,and automatically issue a new card.

Agree with wot he said ^^^

Why oh why with the first issue of a card, why can’t they just take your driver number over the phone along with the inevitable debit card payment, same when changing address, they’ve already got your details. I understand why the need to pick replacements up from testing stations etc, the long winded process is just so crap.

Well, this is the way I did it.

Phoned DVLA automated hotline to request form to change address for Digi Card.
Totally useless so fired off an email to general enquires requesting form (D777B if anyones interested)
Received reply next day saying form on it’s way.
Form duly arrived within a few days.
Entered required infomation and enclosed driving licence (w/ conterpart), also completed for change of address. (Digi card NOT sent)
Posted Monday 21st Apr
New licence returned Friday 25th April, also letter recieved stating new Digi card will be ready for collection on 6th May.
Letter said make sure data downloaded before exchanging card at DVLA office.

Quite impressed after reading some of the horror stories.

Wheelnut wrote

hope they also give you a translation of that in French and German

Just what i was thinking wheelnut

i was told by dvla that there was no such 15 day rule??

dle1uk:
i was told by dvla that there was no such 15 day rule??

DVLA call-center, arse, both hands, map, torch, GPS, autoroute and clear directions. Make up your own joke here.

dle1uk:
i was told by dvla that there was no such 15 day rule??

Page 35, 3rd paragraph.

34 neil