In praise of the DVLA and the Post Office

If you have one of the photocard-type driving licences you will have to renew it every ten years. Recently I had to update my photograph as I no longer resemble the fresh-faced fellow pictured. You can supply your own photograph and do it by post or you can go to a main Post Office and do it there.

I chose the second option and have to say that I was impressed by the helpful service from the staff at the main Warwick office. I was told to expect my licence back in fifteen days. Depending on how you interpret that it could mean two or three weeks (if you assume 15 working days). So imagine my surprise when, having been for my photo on the Monday, the new licence arrived in Friday’s post.

The DVLA attracts a lot of criticism for losing post, long delays and a general level of un-helpfulness. The Post Office is famed for queues and not being somewhere you want to go (to be fair there was a monster queue forming as I left the branch). It is nice, however, to be able to report positive experiences of both organisations.