Road Safety Bill [HL]

The surrender of the old-form driving licences, which we propose, is nothing to do with Europe. It is government-led; it is not a requirement from Europe, nor is it inspired from that source. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, spoke of his familiarity with the old-style driving licence, one of which I have in my pocket. However, it is a document that goes back a very long time. It has very poor security provisions within it. Our problem is fraud. Those licences can be used, copied and abused with far greater ease than we are able to tolerate in contemporary society with all its problems with significant crime. The issue is driven by the question of security. It is also a reflection of the fact that, of course, technological improvements enable the production of photocard licences, which guarantee that it is more difficult for criminals to carry out identity fraud when a photograph is involved. That is the motivation behind this clause—nothing more and nothing less. Of course, I would imagine that the driving licence belonging to the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, looks remarkably similar to mine, although mine is probably more dated than his. But, over the years, there have been changes. There are quite a variety of paper driving licences that remain in circulation, which lend themselves wide open to misappropriation. The different forms, levels and types of security feature make it very difficult for any inquiring authority to cope with what is very far from being a standard form of driving licence, to say nothing of the fact that the older ones do not contain any photographic evidence. The plastic photocard licences provide a new type of production technology that allow a range of rather more sophisticated security features to be incorporated. The photocard licence contains five times as many security features as the old paper licences, including a range of covert and overt features that protect the card and its holder from a range of threats. I have to say that those threats are real: there is a wide range of abuse. Foreign licensing authorities return on average some 60 counterfeit paper licences to the DVLA every year. There are cases where drivers try to exchange counterfeit paper licences for valid European Community licences in other member states. Valid licences could, of course, be subsequently used by drivers to drive in the UK. The police bring to the DVLA’s attention some 300 counterfeit paper licences a year. It provides the police with witness statements confirming that the licence is counterfeit, which is used to take forward prosecuting action. The police have also reported cases where disqualified and unqualified drivers have used another person’s paper licence to avoid detection. When stopped and challenged by the police, those people will provide the personal details of the proper licence holders and produce the paper licences to substantiate their identity and driving licence entitlement. The absence of any photographs make it very difficult for the police to detect or to prove the impersonation. The Driving Standards Agency reported that paper licences were used to support impersonations at driving tests. Although the introduction of the photocard licence has helped to stifle that particular abuse, the continued validity of paper licences could still be used for that purpose. We have a real problem that these licences are wide open to abuse. Our motivation is to cope with that level of fraud and difficulty, against a background where we obviously have enhanced technological capacity well beyond anything that obtained some years ago with the concept of a document of this kind. The noble Lord will expect me to say this, and I shall not disappoint him in his expectation. I am not in a position to talk about the level of fees involved. We have not reached anything like that stage in our deliberations yet. I recognise fully his anxiety on that front. We all appreciate the fact that a fee will be necessary to meet what will be significant costs and there will be great public interest and interest in this House and in another place in the level of the fee, but I am not in a position to discuss that in any detail, save to confirm that there will be one involved. Existing photocards will be withdrawn only if they are seriously compromised in terms of security, so we will retain what we have that is effective. The noble Lords, Lord Bradshaw and Lord Hanningfield, are right in indicating that a substantial number of driving licences will have to be enhanced. They are significant documents: significant enough for fraud to be perpetrated using them on considerable occasions and often in serious circumstances. We all know that a great deal of serious crime takes place with the use of motor vehicles that have to be obtained. They can be begged, borrowed, stolen or hired. If they are hired, you need fraudulent papers if you drive them. If the police stop you, you have to be able to defend yourself. Therefore, crime based on the use of the motorcar often involves fraudulent use of papers and we have an obligation to use the technology that we have to improve that position. That is the basis of the clause. I hope that the Committee will support it.