About six weeks ago, CUTS raised concerns about the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority’s (DVLA) delinquency charges for late renewal and replacement of a driver’s licence. Our position is that merely holding an expired licence does not, in itself, constitute a crime. It only becomes an offence when one drives with an expired licence, as per Regulation 46(8) of the Road Traffic Regulations 2026 LI 2519.
Just last week, the DVLA issued a release titled “Clarification on Delinquency Charges on Failed Renewal of Driver’s Licence.” The 3rd paragraph of the release read: For the avoidance of doubt, the responsibility for holding a driver’s licence is to ensure that the licence is active at all times. At no point should a driver’s licence be allowed to expire.” That statement overlooks circumstances in which a person cannot renew on time or has no reason to drive. An expired licence does not, by itself, establish that its holder drove while the licence was invalid. There are many professionals in the country (pharmacists, surveyors, doctors, lawyers, architects, dentists) whose professional practice licences might have expired, and they have not renewed them because they do not intend to practice. It is only when one intends to practice that one decides to renew the licence. This explains why professional bodies also publish “members in good standing.”
Consider these 10 situations:
- Someone serves as a Member of Parliament for 12 years and uses a chauffeur throughout that period. After losing re-election, he can no longer afford a driver. He decides to drive again and goes to DVLA to renew his expired licence. Should the years in which someone else drove him be treated as evidence of misconduct?
- Consider a Ghanaian police officer deployed on a peacekeeping mission in Darfur, or a Ghana Armed Forces soldier serving on a UN mission in Lebanon. His licence expires while he is away. When he returns and goes to DVLA before driving, he faces a delinquency charge.
- A Ministry of Foreign Affairs officer returning home after a four-year posting in Paris faces the same question: what should he have done while stationed abroad when the license expired?
- The DVLA runs a programme to help tertiary students learn to drive and obtain licence on campus. Consider a student who qualifies for a licence but cannot afford a car after graduation. Six years later, he buys one and goes to the DVLA to renew it before driving. He faces a delinquency charge for a period when he had no car to drive or did not drive.
- Consider a Church of Pentecost pastor assigned to lead a mission in Australia for five years. His Ghanaian licence expires during the assignment. On returning home, he goes to DVLA to renew and is labelled “delinquent.”
- Consider a pregnant woman whose doctor advises her not to drive. Her licence expires while she is unable to do so. Six months after giving birth, she is ready to drive again and applies to renew her licence. Why should the period in which she followed medical advice count against her?
- Someone travels abroad for a six-month holiday. His or her Ghanaian licence expires three months before the return journey. Regulation 46(1) of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519) allows renewal within one month before expiry, but this person was abroad during that window. He or she returns, goes to the DVLA before driving, and faces a delinquency charge.
- Someone suffers a stroke and cannot drive for six years. After recovering, he or she goes to DVLA to renew and meet the applicable fitness requirements. DVLA imposes a delinquency charge for the six-year period he was unfit to drive. This is not merely hypothetical; I know someone who experienced it. Road safety would have gained nothing from requiring that person to visit the DVLA while recovering from a stroke simply to keep a licence current.
- Consider a journalist at Citi FM or Joy FM who receives a one-year Commonwealth scholarship to study abroad. His or her licence expires during the course. On returning to Ghana, this person applies to renew before driving and faces a delinquency charge for the time spent away.
- I know a couple of Ghanaians live in the United States or the United Kingdom and keep a Ghanaian licence for visits home. His or her licence expires abroad. This person returns in December 2026 and applies to renew before driving in Ghana. Should renewal require an earlier flight to Ghana solely to prevent a charge? If DVLA expects renewal during an overseas stay, what practical means does it offer Ghanaian licence holders abroad?
Another troubling complain we received was that: One licence holder’s experience shows how troubling these charges become when the delay is DVLA’s own. After spending a year abroad, the person applied at DVLA’s Kumasi office in 2022 to renew an expired licence. DVLA issued a temporary licence, which the applicant had to return repeatedly to extend whenever it neared expiry. More than a year after the application, DVLA called the person back to retake biometrics. About a year later, it called for biometrics again. The applicant complied both times and kept extending the temporary licence while waiting for the permanent card. In May 2026, more than four years after the original application, DVLA finally said the card was ready. At the collection desk came the shock: the applicant had to pay a delinquency charge. An officer said the system would not release the card without payment, so the applicant paid reluctantly. The person now seeks a refund and an explanation for the four-year wait. The question for DVLA is direct: how does an applicant become “delinquent” while following DVLA’s instructions, renewing temporary licences and waiting years for DVLA to complete the application?
None of these examples excuse driving without a valid licence. A returning driver must renew and meet the applicable health and licensing requirements before using the road. The examples show why expiry alone is a poor measure of road use, fault or risk. That is why the lawmakers in Regulation 46(1) of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519) provide that a driver’s licence “may” be renewed within one month before it expires. The use of “may” does not make it mandatory to renew a licence before expiry. Therefore, the DVLA’s claim that under no circumstances should a licence holder allow his or her licence to expire is not supported by any law.
The law also requires careful distinctions. Regulation 46(8) of L.I. 2519 makes failure to renew as prescribed an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine of five to twenty-five penalty units, imprisonment for up to thirty days, or both.
The term “delinquency” did not appear in the LI 2519. The LI only listed offences and their penalties. However, the word “delinquency” appears in the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025 (L.I. 2512). The Fees and Charges Regulation requires all state institutions to submit their fees and charges to Parliament for approval. It becomes very concerning and creates a conflict of laws when, in LI 2519, conduct is labelled as an offence and carries penalties. Then the administrative body also goes to Parliament, asking to impose “delinquency charges” for the same conduct. Consider someone convicted and sentenced by the Court for failing to renew his licence after being stopped by the Police, who serves 30 days in prison. On release, the person goes to the DVLA to renew his licence and faces a further delinquency charge at the DVLA counter. This is a potential double jeopardy.
CUTS calls on Parliament to review how DVLA applies L.I. 2512 alongside L.I. 2519. Parliament should require DVLA to publish the authority for every charge, explain the treatment of people with good cause for renewing late, and provide a means to contest an incorrect assessment. DVLA cannot say that the fees are system-generated and that there is nothing that can be done about this. A fair system should help people return to lawful driving. It should not assume that everyone whose licence expired continued to drive.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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