MP urges DVLA to explain why 1.1m people are awaiting licenses

Chair of the transport select committee, Huw Merriman MP, has written to the chief executive of the DVLA, Julie Lennard, to question why so many drivers are still waiting to receive their driving licences. 

Responding to the latest progress update from the chief executive, the Conservative MP describes the situation for thousands of drivers as ‘urgent’, writing that drivers are waiting ‘too long’ to have their applications processed.

The chair poses seven questions to try to understand why so many applications face delay.  

Although the number of paper applications awaiting processing has reduced from a peak of 1.6 million in September 2021, the number reported by the DVLA in February 2022 is 1.1 million.

More than one fifth of the 1.1 million applicants have been waiting for 10 weeks or longer.