Am I correct in thinking the UK driving licence does not conform to the 'European Communities model' and has NO photo? This is what I gather from the reply by SXB.
New or replacement driving licences in the UK conform to the European standard, but these old licences were typically valid to age 70, so if you don't change address, there's no need to get a new 'photo id' driving licence. Hence there are still many old (non-EU standard) licences in use.