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Learner drivers
It is the same free form D1 as a full licence, and it goes by post. A new name cannot be changed online: send DVLA the form, your provisional licence and your original proof, such as your Deed Poll with one document in your new name, or your marriage certificate. Booked a test? Plan around it, because the licence card has to go with you on the day.
GOV.UK’s table of licence fees prices a change of name at nothing by post and offers no online way to do it, and it draws no line between full and provisional licences. The online service for provisional licences changes an address only.
Pick up the D1 pack, ‘Application for a driving licence’, from a Post Office and post everything to Swansea. Write your name on the form exactly as your proof gives it. Form D1, part by part.
Freefor a new name
From GOV.UK’s name change and identity documents pages, checked October 2026. Every item, explained: what DVLA accepts as proof.
The booking services have one rule for this, word for word the same on both test pages: bring proof of your name change to the test, such as your Deed Poll or marriage certificate. Without it, the test has to be cancelled and booked again in your new name, with your new driving licence number.
Theory test
Give at least 3 full working days’ notice, or you pay again. Sundays and public holidays do not count. To change it by email or phone, DVSA asks for your full name as it appears on your driving licence.
Change a theory test, on GOV.UKDriving test
A car test can be changed free with 10 full working days’ notice, and only twice; after that you cancel and book again. Other tests need 3 full working days, and can be changed 6 times.
Change a driving test, on GOV.UKTest in the next few weeks
Post the form, and move the test. Once the name on a licence is wrong, section 99 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 says it must be surrendered straight away, and the card has to be with you at the test centre. Move the test to a date after the new licence is back, with enough notice that it costs nothing.
Test a month or more away
Post form D1 now. DVLA usually takes about 3 weeks and asks you to allow 4. Take the new licence to the test, with your Deed Poll as proof, since the booking is still in your old name. The Deed Poll comes back separately, so check both are home first.
A booking in your old name can stay as it is: take your proof of the new name with you, and GOV.UK’s rule covers it.
Normally the examiner takes your provisional licence and DVLA posts the full one by itself. GOV.UK makes an exception when your name has changed and no longer matches the provisional photocard: then you apply for the full licence yourself, on form D1.
You can drive as soon as you pass, and the pass certificate proves it while you wait. GOV.UK says the documents must be sent to DVLA within 2 years of passing, or you take the test again.
You can apply for a provisional licence from 15 years and 9 months, ride a moped from 16 once you have done compulsory basic training, and usually start driving a car at 17. GOV.UK also says that from 16 you can make your own Deed Poll, so the change, and the licence, are yours to do.
Order the Adult Deed Poll, not the Child one, and sign it yourself in front of two adult witnesses. A school or college report dated after it is on DVLA’s list of documents in your new name, which helps if nothing else comes to you by post yet. A Deed Poll at 16 or 17.
Riding a moped? GOV.UK says to take your UK driving licence to the CBT course, so time the form around that as well.
Taking your spouse’s or civil partner’s surname needs no Deed Poll: post form D1 with your provisional licence and the original certificate. Your licence after marriage.
The online service changes an address alone. With a new name at the same time, GOV.UK sends you to the postal form D1 with original documents in your new name. Name and address together.
You can still apply on form D1. Say what happened to the licence on the form, and enclose £20 by cheque or postal order, payable to DVLA.
Learners there hold a DVA licence, changed on form DL1 by post, because nidirect says a new name cannot be reported online. The DVA’s form and address.
No. DVLA’s online service for a provisional licence changes the address only, and GOV.UK’s fee table gives no online option for a new name. Fill in form D1, from a Post Office, and post it to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN with your provisional licence and original proof. What to send.
Nothing, by post. A new photo at the same time costs £17, and if your licence is lost you include £20 instead of sending it, each by cheque or postal order payable to DVLA.
Take proof of your name change to the test, such as your Deed Poll or marriage certificate, along with your UK photocard licence. GOV.UK says that without proof you must cancel the test and book a new one in your new name, using your new driving licence number. Tests already booked.
Send form D1 now: the law expects a licence to be surrendered as soon as the name on it is wrong. If the new licence will not be back by the test, move the test, because the card has to be with you on the day. A car test moves free with 10 full working days’ notice. Take your Deed Poll to the test as proof of the new name. Tests already booked.
Post form D1 to DVLA with your provisional licence and your original marriage or civil partnership certificate. You need no Deed Poll to take your spouse’s or civil partner’s surname, and it is free. Your licence after marriage.
Apply for it yourself. Sign the declaration on your pass certificate, fill in form D1, and send it with your provisional licence and original documents, including proof of the new name, to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN, within 2 years of passing. The first full licence is free. After you pass.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
From 16 you can change your own name by Deed Poll. Apply online in about five minutes: ours is hand-drafted, checked and posted the same working day, and guaranteed to be accepted by DVLA.
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