MOTORISTS take note: Paper licences stop on June 8.
Motorists will now have to hit the web to check their driving record as paper licences are abolished on this date.
Drivers are being advised to rip up their paper "counterpart" licences and go online after that date as they no longer be valid.
However, older style paper driving licences issued before 1998 will still be valid.

QUESTION: I have a paper licence only. How can I tell if it was issued before 1998? There seems to be no date on it that tells me when it was issued. ...

Be true to yourself. That way happiness lies...

AIUI licences issued after 1998 will be photocard, thus old-style paper licences must have been issued before then.

Didn't they stop issuing the paper licence after 1998. I know in 2003 I had my old driving licence stolen and had to apply for the new photo licence. MY13 HSE LUX Aintree Green
MY57 SE Stornoway Grey. Gone
Nissan X Trail
Discovery V8 LPG
Series II Land Rover

Aaah OK... In that case, the report contains a logical inconsistency.

1. Drivers are being advised to rip up their paper licences ... as they no longer be valid.
2. All paper licences were issued pre 1998
3. Therefore ALL paper licences ARE valid.

Hmmmmm ...

Be true to yourself. That way happiness lies...

I think

1. If you have been issued with a photocard licence, the paper counterpart that came with that is now redundant
2. If you ONLY ever had a paper licence, that's still valid.

So the date thing is just confusing. I only ever had a paper licence and seems to me that it's cheaper for me to just keep that. Moving to the photocard licence gives me no advantage, costs me money & needs to be regularly renewed , at extra cost.

Anyone have any thoughts about why I might consider moving to a photocard licence? ...

Be true to yourself. That way happiness lies...

A far as I can see, the only advantage to changing your nice green paper license would be to use the photocard license for ID purposes.

I won't be changing my paper license.... Steve

2008 TD4 HSE Auto, Zermatt Silver

And you have to renew the photo licence every 10 years. I think I've only got 1 more renew left in me judging by the last photo that was used.  MY13 HSE LUX Aintree Green
MY57 SE Stornoway Grey. Gone
Nissan X Trail
Discovery V8 LPG
Series II Land Rover

I've still got my PINK paper license. Nearly 30 years old now. Never changed it due to charges.

Does get a few strange looks when I've used it for ID.

Unfortunately got to update when we move house soon. Shame. Andy
Freelander2 HSE (59 Plate, MY10 spec)

I heard of a guy who had a provisional licence. He went to Australia and applied for a driving licence as he would be working there for a year or two. When the Oz official saw his licence and noted that it was over a year old they issued him with a full Aussie driving licence since in Oz a provisional licence evidently means that you have passed your test but haven't driven for the 12 month probationary period yet. Presumably he can now return home and swap it for a full licence. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

I have a feeling that you can't swap a foreign licence for a British one unless you are foreign. Could be wrong. I don't think all countries are swappable - I knew a Canadian who drove over here on his Canadian licence but then had to take a UK test - can't recall the reason.
Silliest one was a colleague with a Guernsey licence, which was valid in the UK. However it ran out and needed renewing for some reason: he couldn't renew it in Guernsey because he didn't live there any more, and couldn't swap it here because it had run out, so he too had to take a UK test.
Come to think of it, an even better one - I had an Irish (no jokes please) colleague who offered to co-drive a minibus full of kids to Bavaria. I asked him to check his licence as at the time I didn't think a standard EU licence would cover a minibus. He said he'd "ask his dad to check". A few days later he came back to me and admitted that he didn't have a licence at all. At one time in Ireland they had such a backlog of tests that anyone with more than (I think) one year's provisional licence could apply for a full one without taking the test. My colleague had qualified for this, but had never got round to filling in the paperwork. He also had to take a UK test eventually. Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
300TDi Disco (bought new - terrible car) sent back after 18 months
Freelander 1 Estate - leased, given back at end of lease
200TDi Disco (bought from a mate with 100,000 on the clock) - Gone
Disco 2 TD5 - sold and exported to France
FR2 TD4 GS - Gone
FR2 SD4 HSE - Now changed for a DS
New model ex-demo Evoque S 180 in white
Unable to order a new DS, so gave up. Now have a Volvo S90 Recharge.