A spelling you have always used
One letter different on the birth certificate, and the other version on every bill, payslip and bank card since.
A name spelt wrong
Name spelt wrong on your driving licence?
If DVLA got your name wrong, send the licence back to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN, with a letter saying what it should read. If instead the licence matches your passport or birth certificate and you simply use another spelling, changing it is a change of name, and DVLA asks for proof such as a Deed Poll. A log book misspelt by mistake is put right by letter, with no proof needed.
- DVLA’s own route
- Licence and log book
- Checked with GOV.UK, October 2026
First, whose spelling is it?
DVLA’s record is built from what it was given: the form you filled in and the identity you proved. Its personal information charter says the law requires you to give it accurate details and to tell it promptly about a change of name. So the question is simple. Does the licence differ from your passport or birth certificate, or does it match them but not the name you go by?
Decide in one step
DVLA’s mistake, or a change of name?
Lay the licence or log book next to your passport or birth certificate. One comparison tells you which route you are on, and what each costs.
DVLA’s mistake
Getting a misspelt licence corrected
DVLA’s personal information charter gives the route: return your driving licence to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN, with a letter explaining why it needs to be updated. The same charter asks you to tell DVLA whenever information it holds about you is wrong, so that it can be put right, and data protection law gives you the right to have inaccurate details corrected.
DVLA lists no fee for correcting its own error, and a change of name on a licence is free in any case. If you would rather check before posting the card, ask DVLA through the webchat or email links on GOV.UK’s Contact DVLA page.
Licence issued in Northern Ireland? Corrections go to the DVA instead. The DVA and form DL1.
Your letter to DVLA
- What is wrongThe name as the licence prints it
- What it should readSpelt out in full, letter by letter
- Where that spelling comes fromYour passport or your birth certificate
- How to reach youYour address and your driver number
With the licence, to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN
The log book
DVLA spelt your name wrong on the V5C
GOV.UK says you can update a log book that is wrong by mistake, and gives a name spelt incorrectly as its example. No proof is needed when the mistake was made in the log book itself.
On a log book with multi-coloured numbered blocks on the front, write the correct name in full in section 3, with no initials, and post the whole log book to the DVLA address in section 3 with a letter explaining why it needs to change. On an older log book, the name goes in section 6 and the book goes to the address in section 8. GOV.UK says the new one can take up to 6 weeks.
Car tax due in the next 4 weeks? Tax the car online before you post the log book. The log book and a new name, in full.
What the log book needs
- Spelt wrong by mistake
- A letter, and no proof
- Changed by Deed Poll
- A letter, and proof such as the deed
- Changed by marriage or divorce
- A letter, and no proof
Not arrived after 4 weeks? Contact DVLA, because after 6 weeks a replacement costs £25.
Not a mistake after all
When the “wrong” spelling is your registered name
Sometimes DVLA printed exactly what your passport or birth certificate says, and it is everyday life that drifted. A licence that matches your documents is not wrong in DVLA’s eyes, so making it match the name you use is a change of name.
A name written down another way
A name transliterated one way when it was registered and another way ever since.
A middle name you would rather add
A middle name you have used for years but that was never registered, so no document shows it.
DVLA
A Deed Poll or a statutory declaration
GOV.UK’s list for a changed name on a licence has no shortcut for a small change of spelling. With a Deed Poll, send the original and one document in the new spelling, issued in the last 12 months and after the deed, or the number of a UK passport that already shows it.
HM Passport Office
Two documents can be enough
For a slight change of spelling, such as Jane to Jayne, GOV.UK accepts 2 documents showing the new spelling in use instead of a Deed Poll. That passport does not carry across to DVLA: a passport number counts there on its own only after a marriage or a divorce.
We never help with passport applications. Make yours yourself, with HM Passport Office on GOV.UK or through a Post Office branch, and not via any other website, company or agent.
Middle names
A missing or misspelt middle name
The same test decides it: is the middle name on your passport or birth certificate, and does the licence show it as they do?
| Your situation | What it is | What DVLA needs |
|---|---|---|
| Your middle name is on your documents, but missing from the licence | A mistake | The licence back to DVLA with a letter saying what it should read |
| The licence spells your middle name differently from your documents | A mistake | The same letter, with the spelling your passport or birth certificate shows |
| You want to add a middle name that no document shows | A change of name | Form D1, your original Deed Poll and one document in the new name |
| You want to drop a middle name | A change of name | Form D1 with a Deed Poll. For a passport, GOV.UK takes 2 documents showing the shorter name instead |
From GOV.UK on identity documents for a licence and small changes to a passport name, and DVLA’s personal information charter, checked October 2026.
Our Deed Poll
Making the spelling you use official
A Deed Poll can change any part of a name, the spelling included. Give us your current name exactly as your passport or birth certificate spells it, and the new spelling you want. A paralegal drafts the deed, and quality control compares every name, spelling and date with your order before it is printed.
Then form D1 goes to DVLA with the original, and your log book follows once the deed comes back. Everything a driver updates.
The Adult Deed Poll
£18.50
- Any change, from one letter to a whole name
- Guaranteed to be accepted, or your money back
- Every spelling checked before it is printed
- In the post the same working day
Questions & answers
More about a name spelt wrong
DVLA spelt my name wrong on my driving licence. How do I get it corrected?
Send the licence back to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN, with a letter saying what is wrong and what it should read. That is the route in DVLA’s personal information charter, which also asks you to tell DVLA whenever details it holds are incorrect. To check anything first, use the webchat or email links on GOV.UK’s Contact DVLA page. Getting it corrected.
Does it cost anything to correct a spelling mistake on my licence?
DVLA lists no fee for putting right a mistake in its own record, and a change of name on a licence is free anyway. Fees belong to other things on the same form: £17 for a new photo, and £20 if the licence has been lost.
My name is spelt wrong in my log book (V5C). What do I do?
Write the correct name in full in section 3, post the whole log book to the DVLA address in section 3, and add a letter explaining the mistake. GOV.UK says no proof is needed when a name was spelt incorrectly in the log book by mistake. The new one can take up to 6 weeks. The log book.
My driving licence is missing my middle name. What should I do?
If the middle name is on your passport or birth certificate, the licence is wrong: send it back to DVLA with a letter saying what it should read. If no document shows the middle name and you want it added, that is a change of name, so DVLA asks for proof such as a Deed Poll. Middle names.
Do I need a Deed Poll to change the spelling of my name on my licence?
Only if the licence already matches your passport or birth certificate. Then the new spelling is a change of name, and GOV.UK’s list of proof for DVLA is a Deed Poll or a statutory declaration, with one document in the new spelling. If DVLA simply misspelt your name, no Deed Poll is needed. When the spelling is your registered name.
My passport was respelt without a Deed Poll. Will DVLA accept its number?
Not on its own. HM Passport Office accepts 2 documents for a slight change of spelling, but GOV.UK lets a passport number stand alone as proof for DVLA only after a marriage or a divorce. With a Deed Poll, the passport number does count as your one document in the new spelling.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
Keep reading
Related answers
Changing your driving licenceForm D1 by post, free and never online, plus Northern Ireland.Read this Your V5C log bookSection 3, by post, usually free: what to send and the £1,000 fine.Read this What DVLA accepts as proof of a new nameAn unenrolled Deed Poll, the original only, with one document in your new name.Read this
The spelling you use, made official
Apply online in about five minutes. A paralegal drafts your Deed Poll, quality control checks every spelling, and it is posted the same working day, guaranteed to be accepted by DVLA.
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