Sorry if this turns into a rant ..... and/or it's in the wrong place.
We had lodged the Deeds to our bungalow and our Wills with a firm of local solicitors, but something has happened to the firm and their affairs have been taken over by another firm who have written to us .... we have to file our request for the return of our documents within four weeks and in order for them to do so, we must prove our identity in a prescribed manner ....
Do we have a current full UK adult passport? No (well I did have but it expired last year - cost to renew over £70)
Do we have photographic drivers licences? No ( we have since both had to apply for one each - cost £40.00 for the two)
We do of course have our current drivers licences, birth certificates etc. etc. etc. But are these things worthy of consideration in law to prove that we are UK citizens? No. We were both born here, as were our parents - is the fact that we have both paid tax, N.I. etc. proof??? No.
Now (and I do not mean in any way to be racist by this comment) there is a huge list of ways by which a non-British citizen may prove their identity ... all of which are legal and are enumerated in detail.
I feel this is reverse discrimination ........ why should we have to go to such lengths to prove our identities when the solicitors wrote to us in the first place assuming that we are who we say we are?
ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH