An interim B.C. driver’s licence that doesn’t have a picture can be used, along with a B.C. Vaccine Card, to enter restaurants and other venues that require it in the province.
But not many people may know that, and the Valley’s Stan Robertson thought he had found himself in a quandary recently when he and his wife were entering a restaurant in Duncan.
He said he was renewing his driver’s licence that day at an ICBC service centre in Duncan and, as part of that process, he had his old licence taken away and was handed a temporary licence with no photo until he received his new one in the mail, which he was told he would get sometime before Nov. 11.
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“I didn’t give it another thought until that night when my wife and I went out to dinner, and I remembered that I didn’t have a driver’s licence with a photo on it, just the interim one,” Robertson said.
“Fortunately, I had a possession and acquisition licence [a Canadian licence that allows bearers to acquire or permanently import a firearm] in my wallet that has a picture of me on it that was accepted by the restaurant. But I wonder how many people out there have any other government-issued licences with a picture on it other than their driver’s licence. Everybody has to have their licence renewed and I’m surprised that this has not come up before.”
But the provincial government’s website on the requirements of using the vaccine cards state that “events, businesses and services will ask to see your BC Vaccine Card and a piece of valid government photo ID; for example, a B.C. driver’s licence or BC Services Card. You can also use your interim driver’s licence, usually printed on yellow paper, your passport, or a photo ID issued by another province or territory.”
A BC Vaccine Card and IDs are required for all indoor/outdoor dining, organized indoor events, indoor group recreation classes and activities, indoor concerts/art shows, fitness centres, group fitness, night clubs, casinos, movies and indoor ticketed sports.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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