"Harry Bloomfield"; "Esq." wrote in message
...
Steve Walker formulated on Saturday :
I am happy for my details (as in passport/driving licence) to be on
record and to be available to the police to confirm my identity if I am
stopped for any reason, but do not want to have an ID card that I have to
carry. It is quite common for me to be doing some DIY then rush out to my
parents to borrow something or to the shops to pick up a click and
collect item, without changing my clothes or picking up cards and things
that I would rather not have in my pocket when crawling under the car or
similar.

I never leave my own property, without those things - I feel naked without
my wallet, but why would we have to proove who we are, anymore than we do
now, with driving licence? We don't have to carry it even when driving -
so I doubt they would expect us to always have the ID with us. The point,
for those majority who did have their ID with them - it makes it easy to
confirm who they are and be on their way.

As with a lot of things in life, there is no absolute legal requirement to
have your ID on you at the time you are asked for it, but you shouldn't be
surprised to find that doors are closed to you without ID or you have to
make a special journey to the police station to produce your driving
licence.

I usually carry my wallet (with driving licence) at all times, but as Steve
says, there are times when you are in the middle of a DIY job (or gardening)
and nip out to take something to the tip etc. I carry my wallet, not only so
I've got means to pay for something that I didn't anticipate, but also as ID
in case I'm in an accident. I can be traced through my car, but if I'm not
near my car at the time of the accident then having ID on me helps the
emergency services identify me and phone my wife etc or know that I'm on the
organ donor register (*). I'm so used to my wallet living in the pocket of
whichever trousers I'm wearing that if I removed it, I wouldn't know where
I'd left it. Likewise for car/house keys.


(*) Though at last the law has been changed to assume consent unless
explicitly proved to the contrary. Shame that they still haven't got rid of
the next of kin's right to veto organ donation even if you are on the
register. It is the NoK veto that *really* needs to be removed.