Is failing to sign a driving licence a civil or criminal offence?

Question

Is failing to sign a driving licence a civil or criminal offence?

Answer 1

Capt Jack is totally correct so why he has recieved two thumbs down I have no idea!!

You have to sign the application form before you send off for your licence otherwise your application won't be proccessed and you won't get a licence in the first place!!!

You licence will, if correctly filled in, arrive in the post with your signature ALREADY PRINTED ON IT!

Once again a load of interfering foriegners answering UK and Ireland questions!

ANSWER YOUR OWN QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

Criminal.

Answer 3

criminal BUT ive never heard of anyone being prosicuted for it...i,myself hadent signed minf for 3 years untill a police man noticed,he simply told me to sign it...thats it.

Answer 4

Civil.

If it was Criminal - everybody who DON'T sign the driver's license will have a criminal record.  Do you know anybody who has a criminal record for that?

Good luck...

Answer 5

It's criminal if you're caught driving, as your license is invalid unless signed - petty, but true!

Answer 6

You don't need to sign your driving licence, it should arrive with your signature digitally scanned from the application form and printed on it.  There is a box on the counterpart to sign, but you only need to do that when you move house.

If you didn't sign the application, they'd just get back in touch.

Unless your driving license is a photoless one, ie over ten years old!!!

Answer 7

You aren't driving without a licence if it isn't signed!  If you are ticketed because the paper is invalid, the worst you can be convicted of is "failure to produce" a valid licence, or similar wording depending on the state or province.  Just like if your licence was lost or stolen, you are still a licenced driver!  So, obviously it isn't a criminal offence or people would be criminals if they even drove to the DMV to request a replacement licence, and would be arrested on the spot.  Think about it.  You drive without an insurance card, you get a ticket.  You produce proof your insurance was valid at the time of the ticket, you are not guilty of driving without insurance because you weren't.  In both cases, the insurance card, and the driver licence, are proofs.  This isn't like n**i Germany or the Soviet Union where you had to answer to the demand "papers please", and you were hauled off if you didn't have them on your person.

By the way, the paper licence is going the way of the dodo, so the signature is done at the office and embedded on all the new photo cards.  It is impossible to get a new permanent licence without a signature in any place I know of.  Mine was embedded when I received my new picture card last year.

Answer 8

Criminal and an absolute offence.  That means you have no defence.

Answer 9

It's a criminal offence.  Without the signature the licence isn't valid, to technically it's driving without a licence...

Answer 10

it is Criminal under the 'Road Traffic Offenders Act' (1988), although you will not be sent to jail nor have receive criminal record it is much the same as a speeding ticket and it is the discretion of the Magistrate as to what eventually appears on your record. It stands to reason that if you don't sign your license it realistically wont become an issue worth mention on a criminal record because it is not serious enough unless it was fraudulent ( but then it becomes a fraud issue).

The easiest ways to tell Civil law apart from Criminal is that; Civil law is general a tort, that is a situation in which you would have to sue the other person's i.e negligence etc. whilst Criminal Law you tend to think of the police arresting or imposing penalties (murder etc). However they do crossover (i.e Assault) for general persons this is the easiest way to tell.