Weasel,
So are the old paper licenses no longer valid, is it compulsory to get a plastic one now or do I only have to change it because the address is wrong?
I couldn't get a clear answer to that, its a huge grey area. As per lady at DVLA, paper licences are still technically valid up to the expiry date, but at the same time you cannot use them to drive in UK once you've been overseas for 6 months. After you've been resident in UK again for 6 months you are able to exchange a paper one for a photo ID plastic one, and its only at that stage that you'll be able to amend details such as address, name etc. I know there are contradictions there, and DVLA themselves pointed that out to me, but as things stand at the moment, that's their position. If you had a plastic licence when you left UK, and you return to the same residential address, then there's probably no problem. Bureaucracy gone mad.
7B