applying for driving licence with child passport

will I be exempt from the coutersigniture.

Yes. They will just lift the photo held by HMPO and use that as your licence photograph. No countersignatures required, as your photo would have already been verified when you applied for your passport. That's what I did.

Make sure you're still recognisable though.

will I be exempt from the coutersigniture.

You might want to update your photo if its like 5 years old

Yes I do think it's strange that they will accept old photos, and that when you pass your test your new licence is valid for 10 years from then (even though it isn't if you change your address, for example). I have always thought that in theory, you could apply for your provisional with a passport from over 10 years ago that is expiring soon (passports are valid for over 10 years if you renew early), then pass your test nearly 10 years later and then have your new licence for 10 years...so you could legitimately have a 30 year old photo on your licence! So you might have a photo that was taken when you were 16 (and maybe you actually looked 12) on your licence when you are 46

And when the police stop you about something, and ask for your driving licence and find it's not a true likeness...

Posted from TSR Mobile

Is there an obligation to have your photo updated if your licence is valid? My photo is quite old and occasionally it is pointed out when I use my licence as ID, I have never had it refused though...to be honest, there are probably lots of people who could equally plausibly be the person in my photo which perhaps is a fault with the system but I feel that when people check ID, they often don't really look at the photo anyway!

What I think is wasteful is that if you change your address, there is no option to update your photo at the same time...if I move house and need to get a new licence anyway, wouldn't it be more efficient overall if they offered to update the photo at this point so that my new licence lasts for longer, even though they don't charge for the address change?

It would but there’s money to be lost there 😜

They could make a pro rata charge? This could save them money since it clearly costs them something to send out the new licence when you move, even though it's free.

I personally think you shouldn't be obliged to have your address on your licence anyway...if your wallet and house keys are lost or stolen, surely it makes it so much more likely that your house will be robbed! And it's not as though the police couldn't access the information anyway if need be. Also it's not ideal that someone has to see my address every time I show ID. And generally it won't be accepted as proof of address anyway unless it was recently issued (which is a bit silly since it's an offence not to update the address on your licence but no legal requirement to keep it up to date with your bank and normally online statements are fine in practice).

I've never known anyone to reject a driving licence as proof of address providing it's valid?

The other thing that is frustrating is that normally a driving licence cannot be used as proof of address if it has already been used as proof of identity...but I used my passport details to apply for my driving licence so why does showing my passport as well make a difference?

Another thing that I find silly (although it obviously doesn't apply to me) is that some places won't accept provisional driving licences as ID (an example I can think of is Tesco Travel money)...this does not make sense since the only difference between a provisional and full licence is that you have passed your driving test - it should make any difference for ID purposes!