Thanks, FCM, wish I’d known that before I renewed last month…I do want to be an organ donor, but they didn’t ask me or anything.
Northern Irish drivers get their licenses from the DVLNI (or from down south depending on their politics) which is a separate entity from the GB licencing department. Do licenses on the mainland come with the big plastic folder and documents as well? As for emblems I don’t have my license in front of me but I think the EU symbol is on there somewhere as well as a very small Royal crest, but this being Northern Ireland the crest will probably be removed soon.
My British Driving licence is 12 years old, & has no photo on it, nor EU logo. It does say European Community model on the back. It’s all paper & came in a tiny plastic wallet that it folds into. It expires at age 70. I won’t have to have a new look licence with my photo on it unless I lose my licence (legally or genuinely lose it), or move house. Good reason to stay put, I think ;).
I have the older Québec license, issued in October 1999, a mere 2 weeks before the new ones came in. It has my photo, a file number (which includes my birthdate and causes LCBO and boucers a ton of trouble when trying to card me), a reference number, the issue/expiry dates, my vehicle/restriction class, gender, eye colour, height, address, signature, a bar code, and the words “Québec Permis de Conduire” which enables one to tell the difference between it and the probationary version, which is exactly the same. Its printed on a blueish background with a picture of the province, and is laminated with plastic that contians the word Québec and a fleur-de-lys. The back side of the permit just holds a description of driver classes and restrictions and information about the SAAQ, which issues the permit.
The new ones are similar to the Ontario version, which is a credit-card type of permit. Though I wont get one of those until May 2005.
Organ donorship isn’t part of the drivers license (at least not the old one) - we just check off a box on the back of our health card.
Oh,and BTW, both the license and health card are in French only, which causes that much more trouble for bouncers and the LCBO 