OJEU link
It'd be good to see the detail of the OJEU sumbission. I'm guessing only IBM or Thales or some similar over-priced, inflexible organisation stands a chance of winning.
Tried looking it up on http://ted.europa.eu/ to no avail...
A Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency contract to supply card-style driving licences could be used to continue to produce ID cards for foreign nationals. In a tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 April 2010, the DVLA says it is looking for a supplier to design services for chipped and non-chipped …
Like a crackhead is addicted to crack.
Of course with so many in circulation that will give the forgers and crackers a *lot* more examples to work on.
With almost no actual infrastructure that can *read* the card J. Foreigner can "prove" they are a citizen and with the (slightly more expensive) fully cloned card even if some does check it matches to a legitimate entry for (another) J. Foreigner.
2 for the price of one.
Immigration Theater ("We know exactly how many foreign nationals are in this country") + Security Theater ("And we know who they are")
Funny how the civil service can stop answering *questions* but not *issuing* contracts is it not?
So far the 'threats' to national security have been mainly women and children locked up in conditions that yer average criminal would have gone to the courts about.
The cards will be needed once these people get out as thier experiences may well have turned them in to potential enemies of the state.
"See, told you so".
How will the UK economy work once all the 'illegals' have been rounded up -- or is it just an employee registration scheme for slave labour?
It's already the case that Blackberry equipped police forces can already call up the photo that is registered against a drivers license, on the street, or wherever they can get a mobile signal.
So someone gets stopped, asked whether they have a driving license , their name, and address. PC Plod then calls up the picture, and can confirm by eye whether they have been given correct details WHETHER OR NOT THE PERSON HAS THEIR LICENSE ON THEM!
If anything is amiss, then said someone gets thrown in police custody pending correct identification.
I do not know how many police forces have bought into this, but I know that North Wales took part in the pilot about 5 years ago.
Unless you plan to move house at some point in the next 16 years (not an entirely unreasonable assumption), at which point you will have to have a photocard issued (at your own expense). I'm not even certain that your licence can even be endorsed now without a photocard having to be issued.
On another note, the photo on my drivers licence was taken 12 years ago, when I was a rather thinner and less bearded 16 year old. I bear little resemblence to said photo, so if I got pulled over by Joe Plod between now and my photo licence expiring at the end of the year, I'm done for. Also, my signature has changed a little (what 16 year old has a fixed signature?).