My 17-year-old daughter applied online for her provisional driving licence using her own debit card, but at the point of payment she called me into the room to tell me she was shocked to be asked to pay £108. She had only expected £34.
When I checked I was stunned to see that she was not on the official DVLA website. Luckily she had not completed the transaction, but it was a close-run thing.
I know Guardian Money has previously warned about the dangers of using websites which masquerade as official government sites, but thought there had been a significant crackdown.
SB, Great Dunmow, Essex
Your daughter was apparently using UK Licence Services, which stresses – albeit in smaller type to the top of the page – that it “is no way affiliated with the government of the United Kingdom or the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency). We are a third party processing agency which charges a service fee”.
We can see no good reason why readers should want to use this, or other similar sites, rather than going through the official government site for driving licences at gov.uk/browse/driving/driving-licences.
Following a Money campaign, Google inhibited these “copycat” providers from appearing as the top ranked (advertising-led) result on a search page, but they still creep through, and Google should be doing more to continue to prevent this.
If you are in any doubt about whether your daughter’s payment went through, double check with her bank. The UK Licence Services website says it offers a 14-day cooling-off period and tells users that they can cancel at any time within those first two weeks. If any expected documentation or service fails to materialise, we advise asking the card provider to process a “chargeback” or refund.
The DVLA has also recently warned about a new scam email doing the rounds, claiming to be from the DVLA and urging drivers to verify their details or risk losing their licence.
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