How I temporarily ceased to exist

You're forgiven, Victoria ...........different country, different rules .

 

I see you're point, Pete. But I was against the suggestion that we all have ID cards when this Government suggested it. I think that the driving licence is a back door way of getting around peoples original objections. I don't know if it's any different now but a certain person I know, and who is English, managed to get different ID's and driving licences from different States while travelling through America. Requiring proof of I.D. is reasonable for certain things, but as Clueless's experience shows, a controlled, administered, 1984 style state is not that far away, if it's not here already .

 

The paper licence expires when the person reaches the age of 70. All they need do to get a new one is fill in a form. Some years back, that also required a medical certificate but now only requires the person to say they are fit to drive.

Re being a non-person if you don't have a driving licence or passport:- it's not a problem. A copy of a utility bill and a council tax bill is all that is necessary for almost all situations.

Some things may require a sight of a birth certificate. If asked for your birth certificate by any government agency you should offer to send them a copy - never send the original as they are likely to lose it!

If they insist on seeing the original you are entitled to take it to your local job centre and ask them to photocopy it and sign a declaration that they have seen the original.

I deal with this sort of thing for registered disabled people who can't drive and don't have a passport.

There are some organisations that also say they must see your original birth certificate. I was asked to send my certificate before I could convert my pitiful private pension into an annuity. The insurance company insisted that I send the original. I refused and said that they are deliberately holding up paying my pension and that I would take it to the ombudsman as there is nothing in my original paperwork that said I would have to produce it. I told them that they are welcome to see it but they will have to send someone to my house as it wasn't leaving the premises. So they did!

I'm not a "Grumpy Old Man" for nothing!!!

 

You mean you get paid!!

 

I lot of people around here don't have gas! At least, not in the sense you mean