I write to highlight the absurd situation I find myself in at the hands of the DVLA. Last October my sister-in-law, who was leaving the country, gave us her car. On the windscreen was a tax disc valid until end of this month. Despite this, last weekend it was clamped for non-payment of car tax. It seems that the DVLA has changed the rules about tax discs but hasn’t told anyone about it – I certainly knew nothing of the new rules.
Trying to buy a new tax disc (at a cost of £255), it took two hours to get through to get the correct reference number. We also went back to the automated service and paid the £260 clamp release fee. After another long time trying to get through to an operator, we asked for our car to be unclamped as we needed it immediately. Guess what? They are happy and able to clamp you on a Saturday morning but can’t unclamp you until Monday at the earliest.
We are innocent of any wrongdoing, or intent to cheat the law. We are a low-income family and have paid out £480 for something we knew nothing about. The final straw is that we are now going to be fined a further £171 for the offence. I am furious at the injustice of this situation. ML, London
We suspect that millions of other people are in the same boat as you – completely unaware that the rules governing tax discs changed last October. If you buy a car – or, indeed, are given a car – the tax ceases to be valid at that point and the new keeper has to retax the car from scratch. The DVLA made the change when doing away with tax discs, but this last point was very much lost in the publicity at the time.
The DVLA says it has done a lot of work with “the industry” (meaning car retailers) to raise awareness of this, but how many ordinary members of the public know that a valid disc is no longer valid? Not many, we think.
We asked the DVLA about your case and it says: “The changes to vehicle tax have been widely publicised and we write to every vehicle keeper to inform them of the new rules when the vehicle tax expires. In addition, we also write to every new vehicle keeper when they buy a used vehicle to remind them that they must tax the vehicle before they can use it. If they don’t, they become eligible for enforcement action.”
Given that these changes only came into force a few months ago, you would think that there would be a period of grace for people who innocently fall foul of the rules – but this is the DVLA you are dealing with. We can see why you are furious and you have certainly been harshly dealt with. Write to your MP and see if they can intervene.
Meanwhile, other readers should please take note.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number
