That’s according to the BVRLA, which says that political pressure to speed up the process now means the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is set to renege on its promise to provide the vehicle rental industry with an affordable and workable alternative for checking the counterpart in real time.

If the Government proceeds with its plans, the counterpart will be abolished from 1 January 2015 with the BVRLA warning that millions of existing driving licence documents will instantly become out-of-date.

It added that the absence of the industry-specific online solution promised by the DVLA will leave rental branches having to use potentially costly or time-consuming alternatives. For example, they may use the agency’s premium rate telephone service or rely on customers sharing access to their online driver records via a print-off or smartphone screen. 

‘Rushing the abolition of the paper counterpart before the DVLA is ready with a real-time driver checking service is going to cause huge disruption and may result in customers having to pay to have their own driving licence details verified,’ said Gerry Keaney, chief executive of the BVRLA.

‘We applaud the Government’s attempts to reduce red tape and bureaucracy, but this piece of poorly-timed political point scoring could cause chaos for our industry and its customers during this busy festive season.’

However, a DVLA spokesman said: ‘We want to make it as easy as possible for motorists and businesses to access government services. Getting rid of needless bits of paper and making changes to free up drivers time is all part of our commitment to get rid of unnecessary red tape. We have already launched a free online service where drivers can check their own licence details.

‘As BVRLA is aware, timescales for implementation are under discussion, but we can confirm that no changes will come into effect over the busy festive season.’