save your local dvla office

motorguy

lee678 wrote: »

A essential service for the public and motor trade is due to be taken away from us.Please spare a few minutes to sign the petion, thankyou .

http://www.savethedvla.co.uk/

"taken away from us"? As in us the general public?

From some of your other posts, you seem to have some quite specific information relating to the DVLA, if i was cynical i'd say you worked for them or had a vested interest in these offices being kept open?

motorguy

lee678 wrote: »

A essential service for the public and motor trade is due to be taken away from us.Please spare a few minutes to sign the petion, thankyou .

http://www.savethedvla.co.uk/

Actually, i'm loving the basis for NOT closing the offices from the website

"The motor trade is the biggest employer in the country, and closure of local DVLA offices will be detrimental to local motor trade business."

Speaking as a motor trader, i cant see any impact on my business with less admin offices existing.

Joe_Horner

Ultrasonic wrote: »

What services do they offer that can't be easily completed either online or in a post office?

Free certified copies of documents you send to Swansea, and having them straight into their internal mail. Which saves the cost of recorded / special delivery, removes the risk of "lost-in-post" and provides perfect proof of what you gave them if they go missing internally for one.

In fact, that's the main benefit and a pretty big one considering Swansea's very well publicised knack of losing stuff. Even with licence categories going missing, a copy certified by one of their own offices is good enough proof to get them reinstated.

Also for things like changing taxation class (to / from disabled etc) because you can make the change and tax the vehicle on the spot. Very useful if the car you've just bought was previously disabled class. You can't do that at all in the Post Office or online, and doing it by post means you have to wait "4 to 6 weeks" for them to process it and send everything back. Meanwhile, your car is either untaxed or taxed in a class you're not eligible for.

It's also easy to forget that by no means everyone who needs Government services is either able or happy to do stuff online. Believe it or not, just cos you're using the internet doesn't mean everyone else is!

Ultrasonic

Joe_Horner wrote: »

It's also easy to forget that by no means everyone who needs Government services is either able or happy to do stuff online. Believe it or not, just cos you're using the internet doesn't mean everyone else is!

True. Although the proportion of people who would have need of DVLA services that do not have internet access must be shrinking all the time. I just did a quick search and it seems that 77% of UK households had internet access in August 2011, which I must admit is lower than I'd expected.

I would expect the things you mention could and are also done by post, but I take your point they'd obviously be rather faster done in person.

Joe_Horner

They're faster and more secure in person. The free receipt and certified copy of stuff you hand in (you do have to ask for it but it's part of the service) can save an awful lot of headaches when things like SORN notices or V5s "aren't received". They can hardly enforce a penalty when you have proof you handed it to one of their employees!

s_b

im pleased to see that Joe Horner knows what he is talking about because the rest of the useless posts are well just useless
i relate it to people bemoaning their butcher shutting down because tescos opened yet these same people bought their meat in tescos from the day it opened
if you have never needed to use local dvla office then how can you comment by saying they can shut it for all you care
once shut it wont reopen

Ultrasonic

s_b wrote: »

...because the rest of the useless posts are well just useless

To be fair I did specifically ask a couple of questions to try to find out why I perhaps should care if the offices are closed or not.

lee678

no i dont work for dvla, i am a motor trader, i have a constant battle with dvla and there second class postage service, at least at the local office you get service, let me give you leeds dvla as a example, few years ago it was in the middle of leeds, upstairs in a cramped, queing out the door calamity, specially at the begining of month, there was the occasional rumpus by ill informed customers when the police was called, now its on the outskirts, superb offices, good parking, and help with filling in forms so if you havent brought the right insurance or whatever you dont find out a hour later ! motor trade in general know what theyre doing before even setting off and just shortcutting the postal system so YOU can drive your car away today not in 6 weeks time, the local offices is as much for the public as it is for the trade, plus theres a thousand fully trained jobs that might be chasing your job soon.

mikey72

I've used them, and even if I didn't, I'd rather pay them a salary for doing something, than JSA for sitting at home. Either way it's still coming out of my taxes.

photome

s_b wrote: »

im pleased to see that Joe Horner knows what he is talking about because the rest of the useless posts are well just useless
i relate it to people bemoaning their butcher shutting down because tescos opened yet these same people bought their meat in tescos from the day it opened
if you have never needed to use local dvla office then how can you comment by saying they can shut it for all you care
once shut it wont reopen

You arent the only one that can comment, I commented because i have never had need to go int to a DVL office ..fact. The chances are i will never need to so why shouldnt I comment.

Should we/I pay to keep these ofices open just for the benefit of the motor trade?