Turned over papers by the light (5)
I believe the answer is:
idled
'turned over' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'papers by the light' is the wordplay.
'papers' becomes 'id' (identification papers).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the light' becomes 'led' (I've seen this in other clues).
'id'+'led'='IDLED'
(Other definitions for idled that I've seen before include "Was lazy" , "relaxed" , "sat back" , "Loitered" , "Loafed, lazed about" .)