MoD: Former army serviceman turned away from voting at local election as veteran ID not valid

Adam Diver was devastated that he was turned away from his polling station, with his new document not being in the list of official forms of identification.

He said on X: “I’m not one for complaining but I am gutted! I spent 27 years in the Army and today I was going to vote in my local elections. I was sadly turned away at the door as my Veteran ID was not allowed as formal ID. I will be fighting for this ‘special ID’ to be ‘more’ formal.

Veteran ID cards were rolled out at HMS Sultan in Gosport in November 2023, with the aim to produce 10,000 documents a month from January of this year. The ID card was heavily requested by former service personnel as a way to help them access services such as healthcare.

Minister for veterans affairs, Johnny Mercer - who championed the policy - responded to Mr Diver on social media. “I am sorry about this,” he said.

“The legislation on acceptable forms of ID came out before the veterans ID cards started coming out in January this year. I will do all I can to change it before the next one.”

The government said it intends to make veterans’ ID cards a valid form of voter identification, but is yet to give a timeframe.