There is a big deep black hole regarding change of vehicle registration in the UK as you have highlighted.

The DVLA hide behind the data protection laws so you can't find out who has registered your car as their own. Presumably the police will be less than interested as it's "a civil matter"

I had a similar situation years ago when speeding tickets started dropping through the letter box from places I had never been to. I found out the nearest open police station ( don't laugh) to where the last tickets originated and complained that my car reg plates had been cloned, and was issued a crime number. I then quoted this crime number to reply to the ticket and heard no more.

Did the police issue you with a crime number?

The process of selling a car and re-registering it to a new owner is much more complicated here in france and involves forms with multiple copies and the the registration document is given to the new owner, but struck through with a black marker pen and the words "vendu le" and the date and time and signed by the seller, this cancels the reg certificate.

Also the seller has to provide an official document proving that the vehicle is not subject to any lien, finance, unpaid speeding or traffic fines.

Unless all that is complied with it will not be possible to re-register the car.

The DVLA procedure is a criminal's charter if anybody can apply to register any car in their name and that takes precedence over the legal owner's registration.

Now this can be done online it just needs one fat finger on the keyboard and an error can occur with the reg. Similar with MOTs and incorrect mileage data.

Did the Police give you a crime number?

No. This doesn’t merit an allegation of crime apparently. One way to keep the crime figures low.

Go back and insist that your complaint is recorded in case of fines and email/write to DVLA special delivery so that you have proof.

Edited by _ORB_ on 15/07/2020 at 19:14

BUT. It IS a crime. It is fraud!

Finally got to the bottom of this.... I think. All down to a dishonest dealer it seems.
To cut a long story short about a year ago I transferred an index number to the Honda from an old MG. This transfer can now be done online no need for DVLA to see the old V5. I “spoilt” the old V5 and kept it in the the MG’s history file ( bad mistake I should have destroyed the V5 )The MG was issued with another index number. I sold the MG to a dealer with all docs in October 2019.

i finally spoke to a lady at the DVLA who was interested however not terribly forthcoming and it seems the dealer has managed to register the MG with the old index via the “spoilt “ V5 though I don’t know why would have generated a road tax refund to us. Not all the dots line up but I think this is what happened, It’s been incredibly frustrating, we’re allowed to drive the Honda which I’ve retaxed but if the Police checked on the index number displayed on the Honda it would show an MG. Yep, I give up too.

The DVLA are going to contact the new owner to tell them that the registration number they’ve been issued is incorrect, should be interesting. I’d like to listen to the conversation when the owner of the MG contacts the dealer....

Hopefully should get a new log book within two weeks because the original log book which I sent to the DVLA was apparently not received by them.

Edited by johncyprus on 02/09/2020 at 07:04