Difficulties with local DVLA office

[Cornishbloke]

Hi

 

I have been working towards getting an RB44 on the road and finally thought I'd cracked it. I have insurance, the VOSA HGV test certificate, the original casting certificate, the forms and the money. Went to the local DVLA office to apply for first registration and they refused, stating that the VOSA test certificate did not have the chassis number on it and they could not tie it to the vehicle.

 

What the certificate has on it is what the VOSA people call the Z number and it is a reference that they give the vehicle on first application. They have the chassis number and everything else on their database, but DVLA don't have access to that. Anyway the lady was adamant, and not to my credit I did get rather tetchy. I rang VOSa and they confirmed that putting the Z number on the certificate was their policy and it was up to the DVLA what they did. Back to DVLA - spoke to manager who said that he had checked their internal help desk and they (DVLA) were right, no chassis number no registration. he did however agree to ring VOSA, and after a while came back and said that he had confirmed the chassis number and would authorise it. I paid and hope to get my registration.

 

This doesn't seem right to me - I don't see how I can be required by one department to get a certificate before registration and when I do, and it is issued in accordance with policy, they refuse to accept it.

 

Does anyone know whether the local office was right to refuse initially or were they just being difficult or wrong and then refusing to back down? I do feel that had I not escalated and got quite stroppy I would never have got the thing on the road.

 

Cheers

 

Richard

[arcot1751]

I don't know about your case but I have had several run ins with my local DVLA office over registering various vehicles. It pays to keep your cool and try to talk to the manager. I know they can turn difficult as once I actually rang Swansea while I was in my local DVLA office regarding a problem Swansea agreed with me but the local office refused to talk to them ! To say I was speechless was an understatement :laugh: Hate to say this but things are going to get a lot worse as all the regional offices are closing this year and then everything will have to go through Swansea so expect long delays, lots of automated answerphone messages and big phone bills ! At least in the local office you get to argue with a real person :undecided:

[N.O.S.]

Well to be honest it is a bit - no, actually it is totally stupid of VOSA to omit the chassis number from a test certificate on a vehicle that has no registration number.

 

One can imagine (and sympathise with) the DVLA people getting a bit aggrieved about having to refer back to VOSA every time this arises.

 

It is sadly indicative of our modern bureaucracy that these circumstances - which require someone to 'go the extra mile' to make things happen - often result in a stalemate, because (understandably I guess, in our era of 'taking the blame') nobody wants to go the extra mile or step outside their comfort zone (the accountability thing?). And all for want of departments talking to each other and making things simple for each other.

 

 

The same thing arises with the new 'proof of paying import duty' where HMC+E and DVLA are locked in a situation where neither department seems able to communicate easily with each other in order to help applicants through the process.

[ArtistsRifles]

The situation is probably exacerbated by the current issues with departmental funding. Each one is fighting to get the maximum from an ever shrinking public kitty so there is no incentive for them to co-operate.

HMRC are - in my experience - usually reasonably helpful when it comes to issues both that are within their remit or that lie with other areas. I had a package come in from the US that got intercepted and hit with a VAT and import fees bill. Parcel Force didn't want to know despite issuing the demand letter on a wrong value but HMRC sorted out the correct value by ringing the parcel Force dept and getting them to physically read the label then they rang the UK border Agency who apparently calculate the various fees. before finally getting parcel Force to issue the correct demand letter. I was impressed by the lengths the people there went to to get the issue resolved.

 

DVLA and VOSA on the other hand - well, lets just say my experiences with both are the stuff of legends - or Hammer Horror Films....

[volvoc303]

my troubles with my mj were vosa wanted to use the miltary plate swansea wanted the bedford s build plate i had a vist from police to check veh then asked why it had two plates in the end the bedford plate was used not the miltary one all was find for three years took it for mot not on the computer went out with guy and said its not that plate number . you use the other one not happy manager comes out as i wont move it after a bit of a stand of checked the other number and up it pops one mot next year i was met with i remember you he checked the number then a big smile i had put a smiley face by one plate and a grumpy one by the other :cheesy::mad::cry: thet dont like what does not fit there every day type and its funny how one test station can be so helpfull and a nother not

[Tony B]

It's all down to that Bl**dy 'A' ! Any Goverment 'Agency'means the Tresuery don't pay us, you pay our wages, and guess what ? There is no competion. :mad: VOSA , DVLA, CGMA, Highways Agency, MDPand Gaurding Agency! The list just goes on,

[ferrettkitt]

It's all down to that Bl**dy 'A' ! Any Goverment 'Agency'means the Tresuery don't pay us, you pay our wages, and guess what ? There is no competion. :mad: VOSA , DVLA, CGMA, Highways Agency, MDPand Gaurding Agency! The list just goes on,

 

Privatise them maybe they will start to work for us instead of against us

[super6]

Perhaps not in quite the same vein but equally stupid, I own a 1971 tractor and, apart from when I bought it, I have always taxed it online. That being real easy as no MOT required, only insurance and its also free, due to age I suppose. For the first couple of years the tax disc came back as AG MCHNE (Machine) and no more was heard. This year I did the same and it came back as before AG MCHNE. About a month later I received a letter stating ...... Our record shows there is a difference between the information sent to us by the issuing Post Office and that on the tax disc for your vehicle.

 

As Homer would say DOH

 

The upshot of all this is that they sent me a replacement tax disc and its now classed as an HISTORIC. I had to return the offending tax disc!

[Tony B]

Privatise them maybe they will start to work for us instead of against us

 

Effectivly they have been!

[ferrettkitt]

Effectivly they have been!

 

Not very well it would seem, I went past the regional office near old trafford football ground in Stretford (not Manchester) and the queue was out the front door and around the side of the building. Still a need for regional offices yet the public will be fobbed off with someone on the phone at the DVLA in Swansea.

[tyler]

I used Peterborough DVLA office to register the Snatch this week, they were brilliant less than 30 mins start to finish and I was done, shame they are all closing except Swansea

[utt61]

Perhaps not in quite the same vein but equally stupid, I own a 1971 tractor and, apart from when I bought it, I have always taxed it online. That being real easy as no MOT required, only insurance and its also free, due to age I suppose. For the first couple of years the tax disc came back as AG MCHNE (Machine) and no more was heard. This year I did the same and it came back as before AG MCHNE. About a month later I received a letter stating ...... Our record shows there is a difference between the information sent to us by the issuing Post Office and that on the tax disc for your vehicle.

 

As Homer would say DOH

 

The upshot of all this is that they sent me a replacement tax disc and its now classed as an HISTORIC. I had to return the offending tax disc!

 

Do you use the tractor commercially? If so, then I don't think you can have it in the Historic Vehicle tax class, it has to be Agricultural Machine, even though they're both zero charge. I don't really understand why DVLA would autonomously change your tax class on a vehicle like this, but I don't suppose DVLA understands either!

 

Agricultural Machines have been £0 for tax for a long time, ostensibly because they spend little time on roads. It is nothing to do with age in their case.