Rather unexpectedly I received a letter from DVLA this morning. It contained a new format V5, the A3 sized V5C. Reading the covering letter it revealed the following: "I enclose your new style Registration Certificate (V5C). We are sending it to you as part of a programme to replace all existing Registration Documents (V5). These certificates have been designed to comply with a European Directive to harmonise Vehicle Registration Certificates across the European Community. They have been issued since January 2004 and will gradually replace the current Registration Document. You must now destroy your V5 Registration Document as it is now invalid." I'm a bit stunned, tbh. How fucking much is this scheme going to cost, ffs? I would think that it would be far more sensible to phase this change in and send out new V5Cs when old V5s are returned for changes, as has been happening. It looks as if they are now reissuing every Registration Document - in a hurry. One wonders how many of our Euro-brethren will be undertaking similar schemes.