The Royal Thai Police (RTP) insisted on Tuesday that a physical driving licence is needed until the law is amended allowing a digital version to replace them, a process expected to take at least six months.
The new digital-driving licence roll-out ran into a legal hitch after it was found that Section 140 of the 1979 Land Transport Act requires traffic police to seize physical driving licences when offences are committed.
The RTP was responding to the Department of Land Transport's (DLT) launch of its newly developed digital driving licence app for smartphones on Tuesday.
Pol Maj Gen Ekkarak Limsangkat, deputy chief of the Police Education Bureau said the RTP agrees with the DLT's plan to adopt the new format and the RTP has drafted a law to validate the digital version.
Motorists are therefore advised to carry their paper licences until the law is amended, or else they may face an additional charge for failing to carry with them their physical driving licences when asked by the police to show them, he said.
Driving licences will become thing of the past too because the government has a plan to download driving licences in the ID card database, "This is so motorists will no longer have to carry their driving licences, either physical and digital versions," said the deputy chief.