RANT! How to tax your vehicle

[Wolfie]

Simple really, you get the reminder in the post, you go to the post office with the necessary documents and payment and they give you a nice shiny disc.

Well NO, that relies on the post office employing people that are competent.

How it really goes is:

Get reminder in the post, go to post office in good time and get disc.
Go to put disc in car, and notice that the incompetent at the post office has managed to put an 8 in the registration number rather than a 4. (Well I suppose they look similar  :roll: )
Drive 15 miles back to the post office, stand in the long queue for ages, (it now being the last working day before the end of the month so the world and his wife are queueing to get a tax disc).
Eventually get to the counter, the next idiot then scribbles on the incorrect disc and writes out a new one - SORTED? well no.
The idiot then tries to change the record on the DVLA computer - the tax disc for the car now has a different number to the one that is on record. THE COMPUTER SAYS NO!
Idiot then phones the helpline, queue in post office now out of the door, customers starting to moan!
Helpline can't! but will phone back. Suggest to idiot that they put my paperwork aside until return call and serve irritated customers.
Eventually the phone rings, the post office can't make the change, so I now have to go to the "local" VRO to get it done.
Of course it's too late today to go to Northampton, (slightly further than Birmingham but probably easier to get to).
So I now have a spoiled and invalid tax disc, and can't get it sorted until Tuesday at the earliest. As I don't have a valid tax disc I can't use the car after the end of the month.

And they wonder why people avoid paying their car tax!

TO BE CONTINUED.......... (as no doubt there will be further incompetence at the VRO)

Wolfie

[Eeyore]

And another fine case of blundering numbskullery, brought to you by British Bureaucracy Ltd  :roll:

Oh well, like we needed to drive the car next week anyway.

Nithering dipsters.....

cheers
 8)
Eeyore

[strapping young lad]

sod that for a laugh

i renew online (i presume you are talking about the tax disc)

got it in the post 2 days later

job done

[Wolfie]

i renew online (i presume you are talking about the tax disc)

That's ok, if you have a computerized MOT certificate, I don't, and it seems that it's not too easy to get one. Another great goverment computer installation.

Regards

Wolfie

[strapping young lad]

ah yeh of course

from what i read all are going computerised so that will help no end

[Henry Webster]

Sensible white one, or silly blue one?

H

[Wolfie]

Silly.

It will get sorted early next week, I have enough time to really irritate them.

Regards

Wolfie

[Wolfie]

got it in the post 2 days later

job done

Ah yes, but that does rely on the post office actually managing to deliver it to you!

Lost by them in the last 6 months, that I know about.
Documents to my insurance company for the racer - almost had insurance cancelled.
CB licence reminder - again nearly cancelled.
Income Tax bill - the penalties and interest would not have been nice.

But to give them credit where it's due, they have twice gone way beyond the call of duty and ensured prompt delivery of recorded items by removing the stickers and forging my signature.

I think I'll stick to doing as much as possible in person, just being more careful to inspect the results.

Regards

Wolfie

[NiceBlueWellies]

Have you actually been told you cannot drive your vehicle, as all concerned know of the problem, and that you have actually paid for your road tax.  

Used to be a time when you had a certain amount of days grace, has that changed?  You won't get a penalty as the computer says you have paid! If you have your old disc and your new, spoiled one, shouldn't be a problem with the cops if you explained the incompetance too.

Personally, I get my tax a week before then there are no queues.  

You are right though, incompetant so and so's, no wonder the country is falling apart!  :lol:

[strapping young lad]

get it delivered to your work address and recorded

[hobbit]

Two things,

one, the computer system for the mot's are and have been down for a few days, could be a knock on for the po to as they link to this to confirm mot's, both disco and hybrid out of mot, reduced to running round in my fathers car to remain legal until at the earliest booking which is next thursday

two, thank god we have a licensing office down the road from me, just off J26 M1, handy for a bit longer wait but people who actually know the system and solve vehicle licensing problems

[Rangie3.0LtrDan]

My tax on the suzuki runs out as well on Sunday, but i am going to tax it on Tuesday (no money today and no post office open on Monday with it being a bank holiday!)

So if i get pulled on the bank holiday monday there really is nothing that plod can do.

[strapping young lad]

there used to be a 14 day grace period (at least i think there used to be)

doubt it anymore

in their eyes you've known for 12 months (or 6 months)

[Bunnie]

Yeah post office staff are clever people and so is the DVLAS online system... providing you can infact find the right page through the crap they have on there....

Wolfie have had same problem with the post men.... we have a post box outside the gate and some times they used to just put the letter in there and put god knows what on the signiture form... just a note saying thanks...! Plus when u spend 2 weeks trying to trace a letter which contains £50 (before anyone says anything... i didnt know the money was coming till a week later when i was asked... other wise it would have gone recorded!) they tell you theres [!Expletive Deleted!] all we can do and are very sorry! So why dont they put that on the form to begin with!

[bezzabsa]

there used to be a 14 day grace period (at least i think there used to be)

doubt it anymore

in their eyes you've known for 12 months (or 6 months)

Never was a 2 week grace period... classic tale .. ask any plod and basically if he is a complete b*****d he will follow a car whos tax expires at midnight and do it at 12:01..(few friends in the force ;) )
also catches a few night shift workers out - as its illegal to display before the date , so you have to carry it and display asap.!!

[tomarse]

I'd have stuck it up anyway and if stopped and asked say that i hadnt noticed.

It will be on the DVLA/police system that you have bought the tax - and they cant get the registration number wrong from the V5 since they read it off with the barcode reader.

If you ever got stopped and the police made anything of it then i doubt it would get far. You can proove that you bought the tax you have proof you bought it (reciept and bank statements), and it should be on the system that your car was taxed.

[landroverkeith]

:?  and too make things worse if you do get to the northampton office trying to park in there dingy little carpark is a joke itself then when your inside theres the que from hell to deal with and then, when thats done u get to speak to one of the ooo so happy young ladys behind the counter  :shock:

[andyhubbard]

Hi ya similar happened to me last month,they wanted to change wrong number and letter on disc.All they have to do is write SPOILED on the disc and cancel it on the computer thus making it invalid and then issue you a new disc at the counter.JOB DONE and they were told to do that by Swansea.

[BrumLee]

From the DVLA site are the following statements:

I have not received the tax disc. What should I do?

If the tax disc has not been received after 5 working days, please telephone us between 8am to 8.30pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 5.30pm Saturdays on 0870 850 4444. When you make the call, please have the Reference Number available and choose option 4 then option 1.

I have not received the tax disc. Can I use the vehicle without the tax disc displayed?

It is an offence to use a vehicle on a public road without displaying a valid tax disc.

[Sider]

i renew online (i presume you are talking about the tax disc)

That's ok, if you have a computerized MOT certificate, I don't, and it seems that it's not too easy to get one. Another great goverment computer installation.

Regards

Wolfie

Nope. Our company's vehicles have the old paper certificates, and we just renewed the tax on three of them online.

[Bob696]

It is an offence to use a vehicle on a public road without displaying a valid tax disc.

That is a seperate offence to not haveing the car taxed though. "Failure to display" carries a small fine. I have NEVER displayed a tax disk on my bike (too easy to steal) but always carried them in my wallet. Every time I got stopped I just explained to plod why I did that and they said it was fair enough as the rest of the bike was OK. I used to get stopped at least once a month in the 'old days'.

[Karen696]

Just for anyone out there who believes in the 14 days grace.

There has never been a legal reason why they should give you 14 days grace - I even have letters from the DVLA stating that - it was always 'discretionary'  so if you got a bureacratic ar*****e you could be done, thing is the magistrates used to look on it as a minor offence and rarely fined the driver very much and that is the ONLY reason for the 'grace' period.

Incidentally - the DVLA never gave you the 14 days grace if you had just bought a car.  Yep, if you owned the car and didn't tax it they would let you off, but it you bought a car and it wasn't taxed they would do you.

I know this because I bought a car - privately, had to pick it up after the chap finished work and after the post office had shut.

Drove it home (well you have no choice about that really do you?)  parked it on the road (because I didn't have off-road parking at the time)

Plod came round at 6 am the next morning and BANG I had a ticket.

I 'got away' with paying the back tax by paying for the whole month, which I would have had to do any way (including 12 days when I hadn't owned the vehicle) but only after lengthy and prolonged arguments on the phone and by letter with the local DVLA office.

[ben_haynes]

It is an offence to use a vehicle on a public road without displaying a valid tax disc.

That is a seperate offence to not haveing the car taxed though. "Failure to display" carries a small fine. I have NEVER displayed a tax disk on my bike (too easy to steal) but always carried them in my wallet. Every time I got stopped I just explained to plod why I did that and they said it was fair enough as the rest of the bike was OK. I used to get stopped at least once a month in the 'old days'.

you dont need to tax a push bike :lol:  :lol:

[Wolfie]

TO BE CONTINUED.......... (as no doubt there will be further incompetence at the VRO)

Actually turned out to be quite painless  :o

Well, it was after finding the place, the address on the sheet given to me by the post office was only two years out of date  :roll:

The queue wasn't too bad, only about 1/2 hour, and the swap took minutes.

Marginally happier now, and able to get on with more important things like preparing the car for the Hillrally.

Regards

Wolfie