DMT Will Run Out of Licence Cards by January, New Stock Only in March — Then What?

A report to Parliament this month showed around 673,000 driving licence cards are stuck waiting to be printed, and the current batch of blank cards will run out by January 2027. The next shipment isn't due until the end of March, so there's a real gap where new drivers who've just passed their test, and people renewing, may have nothing but a receipt to show for weeks. Officials say the whole backlog should clear by mid-2027 once a fresh order of two million cards comes in. One side says this is a basic planning failure — a department issuing a mandatory legal document should never let stock run to zero with months of warning. The other side points out registrations and new drivers have surged since import restrictions eased, and nobody forecast demand moving this fast. If you're waiting on a card right now, how are you actually managing day to day? Has anyone been stopped by police, or had a job, insurance, or loan application held up because you only had a receipt and not the card itself? ලයිසන් කාඩ් එකක් නැතුව ඔයා පාරේ දුවනවද? ඒ අත්දැකීම කියන්න.