Do credit cards count?
If not…never. It isn’t a requirement in the UK, not even when driving.
I was coming in to say this. I don’t carry ID. If I’m going to buy something, then I will have my bank cards on me if that counts, but I do not carry a driving license or anything else with my address or photo. If the police stop you in a car here, you have 7 days to present your documents at a police station, you don’t have to produce ID on the spot.
It’s not something I would usually consider to be ID, at least over here. I’ve heard of it being accepted as a last resort, though (like if you’re going to fly and you lost your actual ID).
Usually it’s good-intentioned but ignorant retailers that want to see ID before accepting a credit card, or good-intentioned but ignorant consumers who invalidate their credit cards by putting “see ID” in the signature panel.
For a while there retailers were told not to process credit cards without checking valid ID. (This was when identity theft was new.) But I’ve always carried everything “official” with me. If I leave the driveway it’s like this: got my teeth in? (dentures.) Check. Got my glasses on? Check. Got my pocketbook slung over my arm? Check. (Used to be Got My Shoes On but you can’t walk across scratchy Florida grass barefooted and not know it.) I carry my checkbook (? for what?) and debit card and driver’s license (can’t drive anymore) and CVS card and Social Security card (say what?) and voter’s registration card and library card and lifetime handicap pass to any National Park. I have my kids’ penciled in/erased cell phone numbers and Medical Alert card and possibly a condensed shot of my divorce papers from my first marriage (with reasons why) so nobody will think I’m tying to use my current husband of thirty plus years name as an alias. Because the US is a big place and I don’t expect “them” to remember me. And you never know when you might want to rent something at Redbox. Or go to the beach. For free.
Not unless I’m travelling (unless credit cards count) - the only government-issued ID I have is my passport, and that’s extortionately expensive to replace, so I prefer not to take it everywhere with me in case it gets lost or stolen.
If I’m away from my house, I have a wallet somewhere on my person, which means I’ll have ID with me. I guess if I’m just going for a short walk, I’ll leave my stuff behind, but that’s definitely the exception.
99% of the time. Sometimes I don’t for trips to the corner store or the garbage bins, but both my National ID and my driver’s license fit in my wallet.
If I’m out I’ll take my wallet, which always has my driving licence in.
And out of the six countries I’ve lived in, in the last eight years, only once was I asked to show my ID by a police officer (I and three friends were getting a lift on the back of a flatbed truck). Maybe I usually look innocent enough or maybe no one actually cares, because I’m never breaking any laws or being a twit.
The only time I’m without ID is when I’m out for a run, but I’ve started wearing a RoadID so I guess even then I have some form of ID on me.
My ID is in my purse, so it’s usually with me, especially if I have to drive somewhere. This past Saturday, tho, was a rare occasion when I was without ID. I was going to a ballgame on my husband’s motorcycle. I didn’t want to mess with a purse, so I left it all at home. I think I had $2 in my pocket and that was it.
Hiking in our woods or adjacent woods with the dogs? No. Anywhere else, yes.
I’ve been stopped for speeding without my DL. It was a PIA.
When I do it’s usually coincidental. Because I don’t drive, the only ID I have is my Passport, which I keep in my backpack. I carry that with me about half the time I’m out and about.
But in any given year I present my ID maybe three times. I don’t think it’s as important for me to have ID on my person here as it is in some other countries.
If I’m walking in the park, or at the playground with my son, or any other walking distance activity, the ID can stay at home. If I think I may need money, I either grab my wallet, with ID in tow, or just grab a couple of bills on the way out the door, whichever I find more convenient at the time. If I go anywhere far away, the ID is with me.
*When out with a 5 year old, you really don’t want to be caught moneyless when the Ice Cream Man comes by.
Of course. It’s in my wallet, and my wallet is either in my pocket or in my hand at all times. No exceptions. The only time it’s not actually on my person is at night or while showering, but it’s still in my pants pocket. When I get dressed in the morning it goes straight from yesterday’s pants to today’s pants.
It’s a policy that has served me well for over 30 years. I don’t have to worry about leaving it somewhere or forgetting where I put it.
You’re not required to carry a driver’s license while driving in the UK?
As for me nope I don’t carry ID unless I need it or am driving, yes I am one of those crazy civil liberty types. It started because I was getting sick of cops asking for ID for no reason so I decided I was going to intentionally not carry it.
I had a cop in Texas explain to me it was illegal not carry ID because you are required to identify yourself to police, the law only applies to identifying yourself verbally. But he insisted because he could not confirm a verbal ID it was like you weren’t identifying yourself at all.:smack:
That is the kind of creeping “papers please” garbage I am sick of.
This. But I can’t remember the last time I had to actually show it to anybody; I think it’s been literally years.
Correct. Although failure to produce a license when requested to do so by a police officer may result in the issue of a “producer”* which means that you must appear at a police station with your license within 7 days.
- See the UK hit “Police Officer” by reggae artist Smiley Culture circa 1984.
99.9 % of the time when I am out. Civil liberties are actually less of an issue to me than possibly getting in an accident/getting hit by a car and no one knowing who I am! I don’t always bring my cell phone though.
I’m often out on long bicycle rides or things like half marathons. I carry my retired military ID to (1) ID me in case of an emergency and (2) it’s also something ERs can use to get at my health insurance.
Many cyclists wear wrist bands called Road IDs that have ID info plus things like next of kin phone numbers and medical info.
If I am out of the house for anything more than yardwork or putting out the trash, yes. The wallet comes with automatically.