Finished me shift on friday afternoon,no probs with me card,inserted it again this morning only for it to flash up “card error 50” now i know i am allowed to drive for up to 15 days without a card but i am now on holiday till the 4th,so can i take it as the 4th being the 2nd day of the 15 days or could i get away with it being the 1st day? The only reason i ask is that as we are going through the xmas/new year period i would expect the DSA/DVLA to be closed till the 4th anyway,which may slow the arrival of me replacement card!!!
if you get a pull tell them your name is prawo jardzy , they’ll never find ya … 
bowser:
if you get a pull tell them your name is prawo jardzy , they’ll never find ya …
i’d take it from the 4th being the first day im not sure but i think theres something to say it is 14days off the office being open but dont quote me on that being true it’s been a while since i last read any dvla bull.
I would have thought that today was the first day, but I seem to think there is some allowance made for bank holidays. In any case, you will probably receive a new one before your hols end. The expiry date will be the same as your old one though.
It may pay to email or phone Swansea to register your faulty card & they’ll soon tell you if they’re open for business or not.
BB
If you have access to a card reader I would try cleaning the card with a soft clean cloth, it’s worked for me with “error 50” on more than one occasion.
The faulty card should be reported within 7 days and you have 15 calendar days (not working days) to get a replacement, if it doesn’t look as though your card will be replaced in time because of the holidays I suggest you phone the DVLA, I believe they can give you permission to continue driving without a driver card, be sure to get proof of getting permission, I understand they can give you a report number of some description though I’m not entirely sure about this.
Either way the clock for the 15 calender days started ticking when you first used printouts instead of the driver card 
edit:
Here is form D77B (DL) which is the form you need to get the card replaced.
If you ring the DVLA,they will give you an authorisation number to quote to any enforcement officer to cover the non use of a card.
You must take a printout from your tacho every day as a record of your activities.
I had my card go on me last Easter & it took about a week & a half to get the new one back. Mind you, it did take Postman Pat
a whole week to get the old one to DVLA coz of the B/H. I had my new card within 4 days of them receiving the old one.
I rang DVLA as soon as the card failed on 0300 790 6109 & they gave me a ref. No. in case i got pulled.
When you send your card back to them, send it recorded delivery, so you can keep an eye on it.
It`s 15 Calendar days from when the card fails, to get it replaced. If you end up getting close to that & still no replacement,
get back on the phone.
I found them very helpful when i spoke to them at Swansea.
Hope this Helps.
You probably already know this but whilst driving without a driver card you should take two printouts per shift, one at the start of the shift and another at the end of the shift, you should write on each printout your name or driver card/licence number and sign them.
These printouts should be carried with you for the following 28 days and then handed in to the transport operator.
Here are the DVLA opening times and dates over Christmas/New year as shown here.
Friday 24th December - All offices closing at midday.
Monday 27th December - All offices closed.
Tuesday 28th December - All offices closed.
Wednesday 29th December - All offices open as normal.
Thursday 30th December - All offices open as normal.
Friday 31st December - All offices open as normal.
Monday 3rd of January 2011 - All offices closed.
Tuesday 4th of January 2011 - All Scottish offices closed. All other offices open for business as normal.
If you don’t want to send the faulty driver card back to Swansea you can have it sent to your nearest VOSA testing station, you will then have to hand the faulty card in when you collect the new one, I’ve no idea which way is the quickest though.