More than half (53.1%) of motorists were against the government’s decision to scrap the paper-based driving counterpart licence, a poll by UK car retailer Motorpoint revealed.

The paper-based counterpart driving licence showing a driver’s record, including offences and endorsements, was replaced by an online service last week.

On the day of the changeover, the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) reported that a number of users were having difficulties.

Last year over 445,000 paper-based driving counterpart licences were lost. In each case, the motorist was charged £20 to cover the cost of replacement. Any paper based driving licence issued before the photocard was introduced in 1998 remains valid.

Mark Carpenter, managing director at Motorpoint, said: "Although the changes announced by the Government have caused some initial confusion over the medium to long term the new system once it has settled down should prove to be more efficient as well as cost effective for drivers."

Just under 1000 motorists took part in the poll which was featured on Motorpoint’s website.

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Informally, a number of motor finance companies told Motor Finance that they were not overly concerned by the switch affecting them.