Has anyone else experienced a similar problem and found anyone of help at the DVLA.
The other day a DVLA van clamped my car whilst they called for a tow truck, guy said the car was showing as untaxed. On noticing that it did appear to have a valid tax disc he removed the clamp and advised I move it before the truck arrived and then ring the DVLA.
Phoned the DVLA, what a helpful bunch of people, I explained that I had personally bought the tax through one of their post office agents three months before, had been given a receipt at the time and could supply the name of the PO and the disc number. However that was of no interest, their stance is that the car isn't taxed, therefore I should buy a new tax disc, not at a post office, it would have to be at a DVLA office. In addition if I asked nicely and filled out some forms they'd take the disc that I'd paid £400 for and investigate further.
I phoned the PO and they were very helpful, they tracked the disc to their paperwork and provided a DVLA transaction number that they only get when the disc is scanned and the transaction is complete. In their opinion it's a DVLA problem as the transaction has gone through. So phoned back the DVLA and got the same spiel, eventually though I got transferred to someone who seemingly wanted to help. I explained that imho I'd done all I could from my end and that the onus should be with the DVLA to resolve the problem. He seemed to accept that and gave me a fax number for their investigations team. So faxed all the information I could gather and a week or so later, nothing.
When I ring up I get the runaround, passed from one clueless jobsworth to another and I'm at a loss as how to get this resolved. I'm still driving the car, I'd be lost without it, needless to say I'm concerned that the cameras or the police aren't going being very interested in my excuse.
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If no joy take it up with your local MP and make him/her do some hard work for a change!
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Can't you go to your local LVLO - they're usually very helpful.
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I was going to suggest that the tax disc might be a forgery and the PO were fiddling, but, from what the OP has said, this clearly isn't the case in this instance.
The manager of a PO close to where I live was sent to prison a couple of years ago for fiddling and that particular PO was closed down. That's what put the idea in my mind!
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Welcome to the Government's computer based admin systems! Fine when they work, carp when they don't! 10p+ per minute phone calls, multiple button choices, recorded messages and finally hard to get thru to obstructive functionaries who can't believe their system could be wrong!
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Picked out from live threads here:
Paid for tax, but DVLA says not.
Paid for insurance, but insurance company says not.
Paid for insurance, but database says not.
Can anyone spot a trend here? Not only do you have to earn the money to pay these people with after tax income, you now have to spend time checking that they've done their jobs properly.
I am reminded of that scene in the film Brazil, where Bob Hoskins, the terrorist/renegade heating and ventilation chap fixes peoples heating and plumbing, with a lot of risk to himself, because the state system doesn't recognise peoples orders/complaints.
Where is all this heading, please?
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Where is all this heading please?
Its computers that are the problem.
If you think DVLA and insurance companies are bad then wait until you have a problem with PayPal! Or a well-known cable TV company. Or an airline. We were on holiday in Hong Kong and turned up at the Swiss desk to check in for the return flight. Despite having tickets and invoices we were not on their computer database and they point blank refused to accept we should be on the flight! Took a tense hour or so to get seats, but eventually we did. If there's computers and databases involved then sooner or later there'll be problems.
I suspect that with all these systems more or less all transactions are automated and run without any manual input. When there is a problem no one knows how to manually intervene to sort it out (or its done from a back office in India).
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Its computers that are the problem.
If there's computers and databases involved then sooner or later there'll be problems.
As an IT consultant who specialises in databases I have to disagree. Computers only do what they're programmed to do (for now). Databases only store the data that people tell the computers to put into them.
It's people that are the problem.
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You have paid your tax. You are displaying a current vehicle excise licence. Their problem!!
Except of course when a tow truck comes to remove your car :-(
Your LVLO is probably your best bet where you can speak to someone face to face.
DVLA are not infallible by a long way. I had a reminder for taxing at the beginning of a month and the Excise Licence actually expired at the end of the previous month.
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If no joy take it up with your local MP and make him/her do some hard work for a change!
Excellent advice. A letter from your MP who have the problem bounced far enough up the chain that it should reach someone who actually has the authority to sort out the mess.
Most MPs run a full-time constituency office with a case-worker on hand, and can be found in the front of the phone book
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Going through a similar performance trying to buy road tax online.
Renewal arrived early August, AskMID says the vehicle is insured, road tax website says no insurance.
The insurance was/is due for renewal 19th August. This was renewed at the end of July (renewed insurance with same company).
Who do DVLA check the insurance with if it is not Motor Insurance Database ?
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Who do DVLA check the insurance with if it is not Motor Insurance Database ?
According to MID website, yes DVLA do use it. But probably have access to more data, so it might be flagging a 19th Aug 2008 insurance expiry (before the new tax starts) rather than Aug 2009. Might be worth checking with your insurer?
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gmac - this is the on line system reflecting the rules of the tax/insurance system.
If your insurance expires before your tax expiry date (my insurance is 18 June, Tax is 30 June) it won't let you tax the car on line - your new insurance policy won't come up on MIB until your old one has expired due to start/end dates on the certificate.
Post Offices will also refuse, unless you have the new insurance docs with you.
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gmac - this is the on line system reflecting the rules of the tax/insurance system.
snipquote!
Yeah a cracking system they've given the police here. No wonder there are so many untaxed or uninsured vehicles on the road.
My insurance started yesterday, according to AskMID the vehicle is not insured (even though I have the paperwork to show it is) and therefore cannot tax it online. When I contacted my insurance company to ask when it will be updated they said it can take up to a week. I asked them why it was not done for the policy coming into operation, they said it could not be done this way (presumably for the cooling off period ?).
The ANPR in a patrol car must be permanently lit up with uninsured vehicles.
Even when you are legal, the system is giving the police a stop reason.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 20/08/2008 at 14:25
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When I ring up I get the runaround, passed from one clueless jobsworth to another and I'm at a loss as how to get this resolved.
www.dvla.gov.uk/contactus/if_things_go_wrong.aspx
and then as others have said, your MP
.
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Imagine all the fun that will happen when the computer says we don't exist when the ID Card, or 'plastic poll tax' is released?
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Imagine all the fun that will happen when the computer says we don't exist when the ID Card or 'plastic poll tax' is released?
No prob. Her Majesty will provide free accommodation for you until it's all sorted out ...
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Had a very similar problem on my own car.
Taxed at po, but advised that i was to be prosecuted for using it on the road without sorn or current road tax.
I wrote back saying I would be happy to be prosecuted. got the tax disc and receipt for it. Insurance is valid. Checked with po, they are happy its all above board.
Advised them that if I had 1 more letter from them I will be hassling them for compensation for my time and efforts involved to prove their incompetence!
heard nothing since, over 1 month ago now! Not even an apology; now that would have been nice!
Bring it on !
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Its computers that are the problem.
Garbage In = Garbage Out!
Most systems in the country are not fail save. Every thing goes fine if the system works. A slight mistake somewhere and whole system collapses.
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Have you checked that the PO recorded the correct reg number? Not in writing on the tax disc, rather on the system, all it needs is a keying error.
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>> Its computers that are the problem. Garbage In = Garbage Out!
snipquote
And of course things never went wrong before computers came in...... or did they....
Going back to the OP, always, but ALWAYS take names of the people you speak to when making a complaint, and also get their "position" within the company, then set a timescale with them when you expect a reply/or will phone them back for an update....
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 19/08/2008 at 13:19
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"Have you checked that the PO recorded the correct reg number? Not in writing on the tax disc, rather on the system, all it needs is a keying error. "
If you go to the PO with the DVLA tax reminder form (V11) the PO clerk just scans the form and issues the tax disc. They can not input the car reg, or the cost of the disc, as it comes from the scan.
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It was my first thought as I didn't use a reminder form. They've written the correct reg on the disc and when I rang, the PO confirmed that their records show the reg keyed tallys too.
Bizarrely I've been driving for 4 months now, travelled a fair few miles past lots of police cars and cameras and not once been stopped, or received a single letter advising me I'm untaxed. Just the one incident a few weeks back when parked outside my house.
Will ring again today when I've an hour to spare.
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I have to say that when I dealt with the DVLA after my fathers death they couldn't have been nicer or more helpful.
On the wider point of the computerisation of everything and the 'computer says no' attitude of most worker ants there is an upside.
You don't have to tax you car and display a disc you just need the computer to state that you have paid, think about that.
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"You don't have to tax your car and display a disc" Well if you don't you will be given a FPN or clamped/towed or crushed by organisations who do not have access to the DVLA computer ie officious parking attendants in small rural towns. It isn't a risk I would take! The computer says you have paid and a disc in the windscreen proves it = a receipt! What does DVD say is the law on this issue? I am sure 'failure to display' is an offence, and it has to be displayed in the bottom left corner of the windscreen SFAIK.
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 19/08/2008 at 14:02
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Section 33 Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 - level 1 fine - fixed
penalty offence - summary offence
It is an offence for a person to use or keep on a public road a vehicle
which is required to be licensed unless a current licence for that vehicle
is fixed to and exhibited in the manner prescribed (below).
Regulation 6 Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002
The licence shall be fixed to the vehicle protected from the weather and
clearly visible in daylight from the nearside of the road and exhibited :-
. Solo Motorcycles, Motor Tricycles and Invalid Vehicles,
- on the nearside of the vehicle,
. Motorcycle with Side-car,
- on the nearside of the handlebars of the motorcycle or on the nearside
of the side-car,
. Vehicles with windscreens extending across the front of the driver to
the nearside,
- on or adjacent to the nearside of the windscreen
. Other vehicles,
- if fitted with a drivers cab with a nearside window, on that window,
otherwise on the nearside in front of the driver's seat, and between 760mm
and 1.8m above the road surface.
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I think I would have given up and gone the easy route.
Last day of the month cash in tax disc at PO
Next day (or maybe the same day) get new tax disc.
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I was told that I'd be prosecuted for taxing my car a day late a couple of years ago - a simple oversight on my part.
I paid it no attention at all, and never heard any more. It's a scare tactic, and typical of the "soft target" culture that emanates from the authorities these days. Hassle people who slip by a day (and gain nothing as a result), and do nothing about the difficult-to-trace hardcore who drive unregistered, untaxed, uninsured and unMOT'd every day of the week.
Jobsworth muppetry of the highest order, and not worth any fretting at all.
Cheers
DP
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