DVLA reviews and complaints

The follwing has been written to the DVLA:

On Saturday 20th Jun at around 1010 I returned to my vehicle having been out for breakfast, to find it had been clamped. The vehicle was parked in Moreton, Wirral where I was visiting friends. After initially registering a complaint with the local police station believing that the acting clamping had been made illegal, I then began making phone calls to investigate. I rang the DVLA first having opened the document attached to my window and finding DVLA written on it. The employee I spoke to explained that my vehicle was not taxed and had therefore been clamped. I was perplexed as to how this situation had arose and after further investigation was told that the vehicle had not been registered with my details and therefore a tax reminder had not been sent to me. I specifically remember filling in the new V5 application at the dealership in Warrington upon purchase and being assured that this would be posted on my behalf before being given the new keeper’s supplement which I still have. I explained to this employee that I needed my car urgently and asked how I could resolve the issue. He advised me to speak to the company that had enforced the clamping and told to me explain the situation and how I had not intentionally driven without tax; he then re-directed my call to said company.

The lady I was put through to by the DVLA employee explained that her only role was to take payments and that she couldn’t aid me in any way. She then advised me to speak to somebody at the pound as it is their decision whether or not to remove a clamp; she then re-directed my call.

I then spoke to a gentlemen at the pound who explained that he could not remove the clamp until he had either confirmation that a fine had been paid or instructions from the DVLA that there was an error. He then explained that the DVLA employee who had re-directed my call had just “fobbed me off” and obviously just wanted to hand the issue over to somebody else knowing full well that the clamping company would not be able to help me. He then advised ringing the DVLA again.

The next DVLA employee I spoke to advised that I purchase vehicle tax, pay the fine to have the clamp removed then write a letter to this address explaining the situation and attempt to recover funds paid for a fine that was not my fault. I purchased tax using my new keeper’s supplement, the lady then spoke to the clamping company on my behalf to explain the situation and confirm that the vehicle was now taxed and then re-directed my call to their payment office.

After again confirming the situation with a lady called Aisha she then explained that if I made a card payment for £100 over the phone then I could get my car back straight away. I regrettably believed this and went ahead with a payment that I could not afford only to be informed immediately after the payment had gone through that her colleagues at the pound had now finished for the weekend (this was at 1155) and would not be able to remove the clamp until at least Monday 22nd Jun. I was disgusted that I had been lied to and asked what time the pound was scheduled to close on a Saturday; she told me 1145. I have since further investigated this further and found that Aisha had for a second time during that call mislead me to cover for her colleagues and that the pound employees were in fact not supposed to finish until 1200. Needing to get to Bedfordshire for a course I then had to borrow a motorcycle from my uncle and pack everything required for it into a rucksack. Having ridden for nearly 4 hours on a motorcycle with a heavy rucksack I have since had a number of back problems and had to attend physio.

I then rang the DVLA for a third time to complain about the disgraceful service I had just received from the clamping company that the DVLA has contracted. The DVLA employee I spoke to this time was very emphatic about the situation and advised making a complaint as well as requesting a recording of the conversation. He put me on hold to investigate this further before returning and explaining that he had found that I would not be able to request this recording as the clamping company were on a different switch board. He then provided me with another address to write to at the DVLA. Finally he explained that there would probably be arrears to pay for the gap in tax and to ring back and settle them when I next had chance.

The next opportunity to call did not arise until today the 8th July due to work commitments; I am a soldier in the British Army. I spoke to yet another DVLA employee at around 1015 this morning the 8th July in an attempt to settle any arrears that might be owed. A few things came to light during this phone call. Firstly that I had been misinformed during my initial phone call to the DVLA on the 20th Jun and that actually my name was associated to that vehicle however, with a spelling mistake and not with my address. Next I was informed that a penalty was due for driving without tax for over £233. Having explained the whole situation to the lady I was speaking to, she then informed me that I could not currently pay the arrears as the details associated to the vehicle were incorrect. She then advised me not to pay the penalty charge (that I can’t afford anyway) as this would be admitting fault. After yet again asking how I resolve this issue, she informed me that there was nothing else she could do to help and again passed an address at the DVLA to write to.

Firstly, I have never received such poor customer service and been lied to/misled so much in my life. Secondly, I appear to have been punished for something that was not my fault; either, the V5 application was lost in the post (unlikely) or there was a clerical error at your end; in my eyes the fact that you have my details associated to the vehicle but misspelt is evidence for this. Next I can confirm that I will NOT be paying a penalty charge for something that is not my fault. Finally I must stress that I do not have regular access to my mail due to constantly being deployed on operation, exercises and courses all over the world and therefore could not have kept track of whether or not the new V5 had been sent.