dvla

[caron musson]

Hi my husband sold a vehicle and sent the log book to DVLA to inform them of the new owner. 7 months later we had a fine from DVLA because the tax on the vehicle had expired, we rung them up and said we no longer own the vehicle , now they have given us a fine for not informing them of the sale, we disbuted this and said we did send away the froms they said they never recieved it and we should have rung them up to tell them that we never recieved acknowledgement from DVLA !!!!!!
It now appears that the DVLA have sent a cheque for the tax that was on the vehicle when we sold it to the new owners !!!! but they are still pursuing us even though they sent the tax money to the new owners !! for not telling them of the sale ( even though they must have known to send the cheque elsewhere ). how do you think we stand? thanks caron

[bednobs]

i dont think you have a leg to stand on, the onus is on you to make sure the notification gets there, not on them to make sure they recieve it. I know it's no good to you now but you should always send the logbook by registerd post (costs about an extra 70 p), and be wary if you dont hear from them with confirmation

If the new owners sent the tax in to get a refund - thats how they got their address, but it dosent mean they will change the registered owner on the logbook - they need the beit of paper you sent but they didnt recieve for that

[Hymie]

Your experience is part of the growing incompetence of our government � the responsibility to ensure that DVLA update their records correctly is yours, not theirs.

Why you should be accountable for their incompetence, is a mystery to me.

[furrycheeky]

Its so frustrating these days that you cannot trust the postal service. I make it recorded delivery for things like this knowing there is fines and they have no common sense if you need to query anything.

[New Judge]

When you notify a change of ownership to the DVLA they send an acknowledgement.

If you did not receive this you should have pursued the matter. I know it is frustrating, but the DVLA cannot be held responsible for the shortcomings of the postal service. In any dealings I undertake I always make sure that documents I send have been safely received.

Yes, I know, I�m so wonderful. But I always adopt the approach that until I know that something I have asked to be done has actually been done, the responsibility rests with me and nobody else.

[Hymie]

You will notice that everyone bar me, blames Royal Mail for the unfortunate position you find yourself.

I would be willing to bet a pound to a penny that the fault lies with DVLA � invariably when I deal with incompetent governmental organisations, a high proportion of letters go missing in the post.
Contrast this with my credit card statements � in all the years I have been paying my monthly account, I cannot recall a single statement or cheque I have sent, going missing (I would have remember it, because I would have paid interest charges).

[moomintroll1]

Does the Interpretation Act not apply? As long as the envelope was correctly addressed with the correct postage, is it not deemed to have been served on the recipient regardless of whether it actually gets there?

I'm not sure, but just a thought - others may be able to reply with a yay or nay.

[bednobs]

but how can you prove it?

if they didnt recieve the letter, they didnt recieve it whether it was royal mail or a **** up in the office.
As i said before the onus is on you to make sure it gets there not on them to make sure they recieve it

[Hymie]

In the government�s bid to streamline fines (taxes), you now find yourself �taxed� for someone else�s offence.

New Judge will explain the fairness/justice of this, in the following post.

[charlene9]

something similar hapend 2 me.my car was usd by the fire service 2 practice on.i sent the log book back 2 the dvla.they sent me an acknowledge ment letter which i kept 4 six months.they then contacted me saying i owed tax.as i didnt have the letter any longer the cheif fire officer wrote 2 them & explained that they had used it for practice! that was not good enough,they still kept snding me letters,they were now saying they had not sent me an acknowledgement letter.i refusd 2 pay & went to the citizens advice.that still didint make a diffrence.i still had 2 pay.the citizens advice told them i couldnt afford 2 pay the full amount so i sent a postal order 4 �10 and said id pay that every month intil it was payd.they sent it back saying i had 2 pay them the full amount. i rang them myself & said i couldnt afford. the lady i spoke 2 didint no y id been sent a fine because at the top of her computer screen showed that they had sent me an acknowledgement letter over 12 months ago!! i had made numerous phone calls 2 quite rude people over a period of 6 months & each person told me the same thing.thankfully i didnt have 2 pay because it was there fault! i think they just want 2 make money out of us! if i was you i wouldnt pay.id keep ringing them!!! why shpuld you.

[caron musson]

I know what you mean why should we pay it but by the sounds of it we are going to have to??.
The ppl we speak to at the dvla are very rude and are no help at all just keep saying they are going to pursue the matter most definatly !!
Oh well my husband should have contected them when he never got an acknowledgement letter ( but he never bothered to read it ! ( dope that he is )) mind you I will say this even my dad didnt know you should have the letter and he used to be a machanic and a mot tester !