Ok, so I need to send my old driving licence back to DVLA, having renewed online and received the replacement.
So, they say, just send it to Swansea with an accompanying letter. There is no form to send.
When I was taught letter writing as a child, that was easy. It was always just Dear Sir. Then at some point in my adult life it changed to Dear Sir/Madam.
What is these days?
Hey guys?
Yo DVLA. Wassup?
Stick with Dear Sir/Madam?
|
Probably needs to be in Welsh as well for the DVLA now :-)
Reminds me of the situation I had a few years ago when my late mother gave up driving and apart from not renewing her licence after 3 years we couldn't find any instructions as to where to send her licence to "hand it in"
|
Dear Sir is all one will get from me. Just make sure that if you use it, you sign off 'yours faithfully' and not 'yours sincerely'. Only one S is the rule.
I have upset some nameless woman in the past who claimed her sex was obvious from her original letter, but it really wasn't. She got no apology either, but I did take the precaution of showing the letters to my boss so he could see I was right.
Stupid though, should just be like a credit card, pair of scissors to it and put in bin.
|
On a related note, it was claimed yesterday on the net that the British prefer to be addressed by their first names.
It really grates on me to be addressed jauntily by my Christian name alone, by someone I've never met and don't know from Adam. Probably a machine in fact. I was brought up never to do that, and it wasn't done when I were a nipper. People called their friends by their first names or nicknames, and addressed others with finely-graduated levels of formality.
Times have changed though. The very young are quite informal and sometimes verge on the presumptuous. I'm well used to it and don't often wince.
|
>>Times have changed though.
Was not "Yo Daddio" an acceptable salutation in your day!?
;-)
|
>> Was not "Yo Daddio" an acceptable salutation in your day!?
I've been resisting the temptation to cite the more up-to-date 'Yo, mo'fos' as an alternative to Dear Sir/Madam.
'Yo' didn't exist back in the day, although people used to murmur vaguely things like 'Yeah...' and 'Cool, man...'.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Tue 14 Jul 15 at 15:52
|
>> It really grates on me to be addressed jauntily by my Christian name alone, by
>> someone I've never met and don't know from Adam.
Agree. CAB training is to take their names and then ask 'is it OK to call you ......'.
I've yet to have one say they'd prefer Mr/Mrs etc.
Similarly if I'm doing follow ups I ask to speak to Mr/Mrs/Ms etc.
When I first joined the Civil Service in 1978 it was still common at a senior level to address letters formally using just surname as in 'Dear Bromptonaut', probably writing the salutation (?) by hand with a fountain pen. Senior officers were 'sir' or Mr Jones etc until you were invitedd to call them by their forename.
These days even Ministers often prefer forenames. Baroness Ashton's second sentence (after good morning etc.) on arriving at our office was 'call me Cathy'.
|
>> These days even Ministers often prefer forenames. Baroness Ashton's second sentence (after good morning etc.) on arriving at our office was 'call me Cathy'.
>>
Some people think that the first sentence for the 'never elected' Ashton should have been in prison.
Link to Telegraph
tinyurl.com/q22rjto
|
>> Ok, so I need to send my old driving licence back to DVLA, having renewed
>> online and received the replacement.
>> Stick with Dear Sir/Madam?
Ignore the request and dump the old license in the drawer as a memento
|
On no account return or destroy your old licence.
When they have a computer glitch or an admin cock-up and lose your records, it will be your only evidence of your entitlements.
|
I already have the new one, and the entitlements are the same.
Here's a thing - if you passed your test on a motorbike (only) some years ago, you got category L - electric vehicles. So in theory, you could now drive a Nissan Leaf or Renault Zoe without ever having taken a car driving test....
|
>>Hey guys?
I've always used 'Dear Sir or Madam' and 'Yours faithfully' where a name is not available. If it's a business letter to, say, John Smith, I would use 'Dear Mr Smith and 'Yours sincerely' or to Margaret Smith, I would use 'Dear Margaret Smith and 'Yours sincerely.
I might start using 'Hey Guys' in future...
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Tue 14 Jul 15 at 15:17
|
>> I might start using 'Hey Guys' in future...
which in itself dates you, Hey Guys became Yo!, which in turn became "Sup"?
|
>> which in turn became "Sup"?
That's only applicable if there's a problem on the horizon, shirley...
|
>> >> which in turn became "Sup"?
>>
>> That's only applicable if there's a problem on the horizon, shirley...
>>
Nope, its now a general greeting, both response and opening. But you can combine the two for example
Yo!, sup?
Which translates into "Dear Sir, I hope this letter finds you well?"
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 14 Jul 15 at 15:48
|
What's the modern parlance for "I am in receipt of yours of the third ultimo"?
|
>> What's the modern parlance for "I am in receipt of yours of the third ultimo"?
"laters, X thing"
|
>> What's the modern parlance for "I am in receipt of yours of the third ultimo"?
"Hello John, I got your email dated June 3rd. It's now July 15th. Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you".
|
|
The Sir/Madam point reminds me of a letter in the Telegraph a year or two back. A couple were introduced to the writer as (say) Sam and Pat. When he asked which was which, the man stormed off saying " Do I look like a woman????"
|
>> The Sir/Madam point reminds me of a letter in the Telegraph a year or two
>> back. A couple were introduced to the writer as (say) Sam and Pat. When he
>> asked which was which, the man stormed off saying " Do I look like a
>> woman????"
>>
Sam: maybe Samantha or Samuel, Pat: maybe Patricia or Patrick!
|
My new licence has now arrived.
I renewed on-line: my photo & signature were automatically transposed from my passport, after I signed up for a Government e-id.
The old one + the counterpart has been bisected, stuffed in the pre-paid envelope sent with the reminder and will be in the post with no covering letter.
If they can't work out that it is from me - that's tough t****.
|
Funnily enough, I've just completed this task and written them the letter - just about to post it. Turned out my passport expires next month (and madam's already has) so just in time to re-use the photo. Not sure yet whether we'll renew those.
I used Dear Sir/Madam in the end, for the record. And indented the first line of each paragraph for good measure.
|
>> just send it to Swansea with an accompanying letter
Did same after house move. Didn't bother to include any letter, just sent them old license cut in half.
I doubt whether they actually track receiving old license back. On hindsight, I could have kept it as an "alternate" address proof ;-) and claimed it was lost in post.
Modern society doesn't care whether letter is formal/informal/grammatically correct etc - as long as you can can explain your thoughts you should be fine.
Even with job applications addition of cover letter is not relevant anymore (unless specifically asked for). Most recruiters only use 30 seconds to shortlist CVs.
|
The most important thing to remember when trying to communicate with these giant organisations is never to try and cover more than one point or ask more than one question in a letter. Almost invariably, they will deal with one and ignore the rest.
I wouldn't be sending my old licence back. They won't be checking who has sent them and even if they were there's nothing they can do if it goes missing.
|
"indented the first line of each paragraph"
Blimey, that is really retro!!!
|
|
Retro? Really? I nearly used my fountain pen, in the absence of a quill, but decided to laser print it instead. I thought that daringly modern actually.
|
Semi-formal letter - commerdriver
