Motoring News » DVLA

DVLA off-road notification system has no teeth

Alan — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:43:44 +0000

The off-road notification system of the DVLA is in disarray due to administrative chaos and the fact that is not legally enforceable. In fact, two court cases that have recently been settled suggest that the DVLA may be unlawfully acting against cars parked off-road, and does not really have any power over motorists, at least not in the way it thinks that it has.

The first case occurred in October of 2009 in the Clerkenwell District Court, with the DVLA believing that it could get a judgment against James Collins, on the grounds that he did not tell them when he removed his vehicle from the road.

Collins said that he had told them and it was not his fault if they could not find his details and to the surprise of many the judge ruled that the DVLA was in the wrong and Collins was told simply to resend his details to the DVLA.

Collins was able to win his case due to some research that he did in advance that showed the DVLA had the ability to lose internal mail, and then made use of a Freedom of Information request in order to establish that they did not keep track of which communications were sent to which individuals.

The other case was against Duncan Peck who was also a farce, with the case of a lost in Horsham Country Court. The DVLA claimed that he had not received notification, and that Peck had set the information later, but it was too late, and he should have checked after not receiving a formal acknowledgment. However, the DVLA lost due to the fact they do not have the power to make people call them.

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Man facing arrest for same DVLA details as another man

Alan — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:32:46 +0000

A Livingston man claims that he was given a fine for driving uninsured in a city that he has never been to that was meant for someone who has the same birthday and identical name.

The man, David Lee aged 45, received post from the DVLA on Friday that stated he had received six penalty points and an additional £50 fine for driving without insurance in the town of Southampton.

However, Lee who is registered as disabled, claims that he has never operated a motor vehicle in that town and that this is the second instance in which he was mistaken for a Reading man who has identical credentials.

Previously Lee had his disability benefits temporally stopped in 1993 because the other man with his details was claiming benefits as well as they had the same national insurance number.

According to bosses of social security the mix up was one in a million but now Lee is in the same position only with a different agency.

The DVLA told Lee that his licence will be suspended if he does not pay the fine, even though he has already told the police and the DVLA about the dilemma.

Lee stated that he is frustrated with the situation and that he is scared to stay in his own home because the police may appear to arrest him for something that the other man has done.

A DVLA spokesman stated that they could not comment on the case but admitted that the court may have received the wrong information.

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How to apply for a replacement photocard driving licence online

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:16:26 +0000

If you haven’t replaced your paper driving licence with a photocard then here is a step by step guide on how to do it online. One nice feature of this is that if you have a recent passport then they can use the photograph stored for that so no new photos to send in.

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After four years stolen DVLA logbooks still being used for theft

Alan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:32:45 +0000

In the past four years thousands of vehicles were stolen using blank documents that were obtained from the DVLA illegally.

Police were able to recover about ten faked log books every week, but there are around 130,000 blank books that were taken in 2006 missing.

The Association of Chief Police Officers stated that over 11,000 cars that were valued at over £13m have been faked so that stolen cars can be sold as in their place as legitimate vehicles.

Mark Hooper, the Detective Chief Inspector from the APCO crime intelligence service said that they are working along with the DVLA to get to the bottom of the theft of the vehicle registration documents.

Hooper continued to say that the victims are innocent motorists, but there are a few simple steps that the public can take so that they are protected.

The DVLA website has published a list of serial numbers that were within the stolen log books so that the public can be on guard and check the blank registration certificate numbers when they purchase a vehicle.

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Wrong man has car crushed and loses his job

Alan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:00:10 +0000

Derek Lyon was in court yesterday fighting the loss of his job under unusual circumstances, by blaming the DVLA, police, and the Aberdeen sheriff clerk’s office.

Lyon contends that due to the fact his identity was mistaken, and his car was crushed, he was unable to get to work.

The problems begin a few months ago in Dundee when officers at a routine police checkpoint told him that he was not allowed to be driving due to a drink-driving offence in Aberdeen.

Lyons insisted he had never been to court in Aberdeen, but his claims were met with disinterest, and his car was seized, and then crushed after he was unable to pay the garaging fees.

However, at the Dundee Sheriff’s Court yesterday the Crown accepted that he was not guilty of drink driving, or driving without insurance under ban, because he was confused with another driver from Aberdeen that had the same name.

Lyons plans to sue now because after four hours in a holding cell his £1500 Honda Civic was crushed when he could not make the payment to the garage. He stated that he had been working on a farm, but was forced to move back to his home city after he lost his transportation causing him to lose his job.

The Tayside Police did not comment on the case of the unusual circumstances, stating only that the Police Department. does not comment on any matters that may be the subject of a court hearing.

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Do you want billboards spying on your car?

Alan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:57:55 +0000

Castrol Oil Company is taking a step forward in their advertising campaign by offering individualized billboard messages to passing motorists.

The idea is simple a camera reads passing vehicle registrations sending the information to the billboard which will then light up and tell the driver that Castrol oil is the top pick for their vehicle.

Castrol stated that this is the first time that personalized messages will be used on billboards in the UK. According to the company it only takes under two seconds to check the license registration so that the billboards can offer up personalized recommendations.

According to Castrol, London will have five trial sites set to be unveiled two weeks from this past Monday.

While Castrol seems thrilled about the advertising, the move makes the DVLA look even more money hungry as they have effectively sold the use of their registration data base to make more revenue off of drivers by selling the advertising rights.

The only question left unanswered is if Castrol should have to include all oils and not just their own, however given they have paid for the rights, it seems highly unlikely meaning that you really only get the best Castrol oil recommendations for your car not the true ‘best.’

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Man sleeps in van to beat DVLA tow truck

Alan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:09:01 +0000

While many residents on a Shrewsbury estate have already watched their vehicles get towed after the cares were clamped by the DVLA, one man, David Evans, has his own plan to prevent a tow truck from taking his beloved Commer Van.

Evans made a visit to the DVLA in Harlescott to discuss the fact that he felt his vehicle should be exempt from the tax due to the fact it was built in 1973 and is now a historical vehicle.

At the meeting he was told that he needed to register it by January 1st by calling a number in order to be exempt.

However, he was told that it was not registered until October so it is not exempt and subject to be towed, a move he plans to confront by spending the night in his van so that it cannot be towed away. This will be his second night sleeping in the van.

The first day in the camper van was actually Evans’s birthday, but he spent it in the Camper Van and deflated the tires to discourage towers from taking the vehicle away.

The reason for the clamp is parking an untaxed vehicle on the public highway which Evans and several neighbours say is not valid because they believe the front of their properties and the small patch of land the vehicles were parked on is part of their driveway.

Two cars were towed from the street at 7:20am and slowed as they passed by Evan’s camper van but stopped to come take a look when they realized he was sitting inside the van.

Evans stated that the towing guys came over and after he was informed it was a tax exempt vehicle took a picture and left. He says that all he wants to do is hear the DVLA apologize and take the clamp off.

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New uninsured car owners clampdown on the way

Alan — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:48:53 +0000

The government is planning to tighten laws around those who drive without auto insurance by making it illegal to own a registered vehicle that is not insured even if the vehicle is not used according to transport ministers.

Those who are caught failing to follow the new legislation could face fines up to £1,000 along with the possibility of having their vehicles seized.

At the moment, it is only illegal for individuals to drive without proper insurance in the UK and as of last January drivers were allowed only to keep uninsured vehicles if they registered the vehicles as unused with the DVLA and kept the cars off of the roadways.

Organizations of motorists welcomed the new laws to combat the amount of uninsured drivers on the road but fear that motorists who are normally law abiding may face punishment for the new laws due to innocent mistakes such as a temporary lapse in insurance while they are away on a holiday.

According to figures from the Department of Transport every year uninsured drivers and those that are not able to be traced are responsible for the deaths of 160 people, 23,000 injuries, and add about £30 a year to the total cost of plans that are purchased by responsible people who do take out insurance.

On average police seize about 400 vehicles a day from those without insurance.

Under the new plan, the DVLA will check insurance details on their motor database to insure that motorists have insurance and will send out reminders to anyone they find that appears to have allowed their coverage to lapse.

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The DVLA say that have made big changes to security

Alan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:07:05 +0000

According to the latest annual report from the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) the government organisation has made major changes to the way it secures its information.

The organisation now has information on well over 40 million drivers and nearly 35 million individual vehicles and makes nearly 112 million transactions annually.

A few weeks ago a national newspaper was able to obtain personal information about several actors apparently from DVLA records. Journalists had noted down the registration numbers of several actors vehicles and were able to obtain information that should not be available to the public.

The DVLA admitted that there had been “widespread” abuse by the media with regard to obtaining personal information from the DVLA illegally.

According to the new report a whole set of new strict controls are now employed in order to enhance not only electronic data security but also physical security of items such as memory sticks.

They have now introduced encrypted laptop’s and any kind of external data storage device such as a USB memory stick are totally banned and this is reinforced by technical assistance to physically stop their use.

In addition any information that is offered on CD is now strongly encrypted. All information which needs to be passed from one computer to another is now performed by an electronic link rather than any kind of portable data device.

They have also made considerable changes and increases to the physical security of their headquarters in Swansea.

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