The DVLA has been accused of behaving like the worst cowboy clampers after it immobilised a car belonging to a 70-year-old woman who has conscientiously taxed her car for more than 50 years – and only sent her a warning letter four days later.
In another case, chiropodist Rob Stacey*, who rang the DVLA to ask if he had to tax his garaged classic car to drive it to an MoT testing station 140 yards away, was incredulous when it was clamped in the middle of the night – even though his car had not been driven, and could legally be driven to the garage.
Last weekend Guardian Money revealed how thousands of law-abiding motorists have become victims of the new car tax rules introduced last October, with clampings up 60% and drivers complaining of a heavy-handed, zero tolerance approach where the DVLA clamps cars without warning – often after an administrative error. After reading our story, Money was contacted by Wendy Angell, who lives in Barry, near Cardiff, who fell foul of the new rules which mean that a car’s tax ends when the owner changes. She had told the DVLA to put her partner’s car into her name because he has Parkinson’s and can longer drive. She has long been listed as the main driver with their insurer. She even paid the car’s annual vehicle excise duty – road tax. She had a valid disc on her windscreen, but, because of the rule change, the DVLA cancelled the tax.
The DVLA has repeatedly claimed that it writes to everyone when they buy or take over a vehicle, warning them that any existing tax is no longer valid. However, it did not send Wendy the V5 registered keeper document until after it had clamped her car.
“I was away, and my kindly neighbour went out to challenge the clampers,” she says. “He pointed out that there was a valid disc in the window, and even offered to pay them because he knew there had to be a mistake. They wouldn’t listen, and put the clamp on anyway.” She says she had no idea that the rules had changed, and had to pay a £100 clamp release fee. Only when she repeatedly pointed out that the DVLA’s documents had all been sent after the clamping, was she told that the threatened fines would be dropped.
“This has cost me a lot of money and distress. I am 70, have been driving for close to 50 years, and have never driven an untaxed vehicle in my life. I feel I have been robbed and humiliated in front of my neighbours,” she says.
The treatment received by Stacey was equally unfair. Last autumn, he registered his classic Saab as off-road (Sorn) while it was having the engine rebuilt. Needing to get an MoT because he had someone interested in buying it, he rang the DVLA who – wrongly – told him he would have to tax it to drive the short distance to the garage, or the garage could pick it up. He elected for the latter, and left the car with a note saying how it was being collected.
The DVLA, however, decided to send the clampers round on the basis of his inquiry. At 3.15am the car was duly clamped. He had to pay £260 to get it released, and is now being threatened with court action.
“It has not been driven on the roads, and was subsequently taxed and tested the following day,” he says. “I wrote to the DVLA to make a complaint over their sharp practice – but received no reply until two days ago when they issued a magistrates court notice that they are seeking a fine of up to £1,000. I am appalled by the conduct of this agency and will be issuing counter-proceedings for recovery of the original fine.”
Their cases mirror other victims who have contacted the Guardian in recent weeks, furious at their treatment. Several have likened the agency’s actions to that of cowboy clampers whose activities have been outlawed.
The fact that the DVLA is pocketing double the tax previously paid in any month in which the car’s keeper is changed has also infuriated some who have labelled the move “a stealth tax”.
One campaigner, Derek Scott, has an online petition opposing the measure. His freedom of information request to the DVLA revealed that in the four months to the end of January, there were 420,000 cases of double taxation. If that figure is replicated throughout the year, the DVLA will collect an extra £25m from motorists changing cars, assuming an average of £20 a month car tax.
A DVLA spokesman maintains the agency has acted properly in both instances. It claims that it sent Angell her documents in January, although they didn’t arrive. It also claims to have no record of Stacey’s Sorn declaration – even though he says he sent it twice. It denies it targeted his car after his call and claims his 3am clamping was carried out by a van on a “routine patrol”.
*Rob Stacey is not his real name
