Licences to drive motor vehicles were introduced to the UK by the Motor Car Act 1903.
Until 1930, driving licences were issued by local authorities using designs of their own creation. After the Road Traffic Act 1930 the design of the licence document became standardized and (although this varied over the years) standard designs were retained until the card licence was phased out in the 1970s. The licence slips that were pasted inside were produced to a broad standard but each local authority seems to have ordered its own stock and there was considerable variation between one authority and another.