With the first of the UK ID cards rolling out this week to foreign nationals, I thought I’d do a quick update of all the lunacy that has gone off lately.

The initial cost is expected to be £30 - paid for by the card holder - and is now seeming likely to rise after 2010, to how much is anyone’s guess. On top of that - if your details are wrong you will be fined £125 to start, but with the possibility of that fine increasing. The shocking thing about this is not just the fine - but the fact that if the data on the government’s database is wrong - it is your responsibility, not theirs.

The government have not just set this scheme up for money generation though - it would seem that they also plan to use it to provide us with great amusement. We can start with Jacqui Smith's fantastic comment of "I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long." - implying that she has people coming up to her in the street asking to apply early to carry a shiny new ID card.

This is just the start of the humour - the BBC provide us with more when they explain that the government have been very forward thinking with regard to homeless people: "Homeless people wanting ID cards may be able to give their home address as a bench, bus stop or park where they are often found." - lets ignore for now that getting an ID card is probably not on the top of the list of things people sleeping on park benches are planning to do - but what if they move bench? Will they too be fined £125 - after all it is their responsibility to make sure that the governments data is up to date.

So, for the moment, there are no penalties, either civil or criminal, for not applying for an ID card - and until they are made compulsory this is probably the best way to avoid fines or prison.

Original Article:  http://blog.kiasworld.co.uk/1_kiasworld_blog/archive/71_id_cards_crazy_cost_crazy_fines_crazy_ideas-and_if_anything_is_wrong_its_your_fault.html