About six weeks ago, CUTS raised concerns over the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority’s (DVLA) imposition of delinquency charges for the late renewal or replacement of expired driver’s licences. Our position remains that simply possessing an expired driver’s licence does not, in itself, constitute an offence. An offence arises only when a person drives with an expired licence, as provided under Regulation 46(8) of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519).
Last week, the DVLA issued a statement titled “Clarification on Delinquency Charges on Failed Renewal of Driver’s Licence.” In the third paragraph, the Authority stated: “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.”
This position, however, fails to take into account situations in which individuals may be unable to renew their licences on time or may simply have no immediate need to drive. The fact that a licence has expired does not, by itself, establish that its holder has driven while the licence was invalid.
A similar situation exists in several professions. Many professionals, including pharmacists, surveyors, doctors, lawyers, architects and dentists, may allow their professional licences to expire because they have no intention of practising at a particular time. They renew their licences when they decide to return to practice. This is also why professional bodies publish lists of “members in good standing” to indicate those who have met the requirements for active professional practice.
1. 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 the DVLA to renew his expired licence. Should the years in which someone else drove him be treated as evidence of misconduct?
2. 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.
3. 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?
4. 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.
5. 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.”
6. 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?
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 complaint we received highlights how problematic these charges can become when the delay is caused by the DVLA itself.
The experience of one licence holder illustrates the issue. After spending a year abroad, the person returned and applied at the DVLA’s Kumasi office in 2022 to renew an expired driving licence. The DVLA issued a temporary licence, which the applicant was required to return and extend repeatedly as it approached its expiry date.
More than a year after the initial application, the DVLA contacted the applicant to retake biometrics. About a year later, the applicant was called in again for another biometric exercise. The applicant complied on both occasions and continued extending the temporary licence while waiting for the permanent card to be issued.
In May 2026, more than four years after the original application, the DVLA finally informed the applicant that the permanent licence card was ready for collection. But at the collection desk, the applicant was confronted with an unexpected demand: payment of a delinquency charge.
An officer reportedly explained that the system would not release the card unless the charge was paid. The applicant reluctantly made the payment and is now seeking a refund, as well as an explanation for the more than four-year delay.
The question for the DVLA is straightforward: How can an applicant be classified as “delinquent” after following the agency’s instructions, repeatedly renewing temporary licences and waiting for years for the DVLA to complete the application?
None of these cases should be interpreted as an excuse for driving without a valid licence. A returning driver is required to renew the licence and satisfy all applicable health and licensing requirements before driving on the road.
However, these cases demonstrate why the mere expiry of a licence is not necessarily a reliable measure of road use, fault or risk. This is particularly relevant to Regulation 46(1) of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519), which provides that a driver’s licence “may” be renewed within one month before its expiry.
The use of the word “may” does not make renewal before expiry mandatory. Consequently, the DVLA’s assertion that a licence holder should under no circumstances allow a licence to expire does not appear to be supported by the wording of the 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.
