Issued with incorrect tax disc by the post office

nicola161284

I bought a new car on 31st July 2013.

I bought 6 months tax with this car to start on 01st august 2013.

I got a reminder to renew my tax in December for a new tax disc which I did for 6 months which runs out at the end of this month.

This is where I got completely confused......I've had my car for 11 months but my tax has ran out.

I only got confused as my MoT and insurance are not due for another month so I looked into it.

Looking back at my tax discs......when I purchased 6 months tax when I bought the car.....they have given me the wrong tax disc that expired on 31st December instead of 31st January.

I know it's only a month.....but that's not the point. Has anyone ever had this happen? Can I claim back the money for the month they haven't given me?

I still have the audit trail of tax discs.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Nicola

bazzyb

Did you buy the tax disc on 31st July?

Did you make clear that you didn't want it to start until the following day? If not, then it was correct to expire in December.

Iceweasel

If you bought the tax disc on the 31st of July then the disc would start on the 1st of July.

Did you drive the car at all on the 31st?

nicola161284

The car already had tax up until 31st July. I still have that tax disc.

jimjames

nicola161284 wrote: »

The car already had tax up until 31st July. I still have that tax disc.

But did the post office know?

Presumably as a new keeper you didn't have the reminder letter so they had no way of knowing if the car was taxed at that point or not - the previous owner could have taken the disc off.

You may have had a case at the time but I think you'll have difficulty proving anything 11 months on.

bazzyb

nicola161284 wrote: »

The car already had tax up until 31st July. I still have that tax disc.

Doesn't really answer the questions, but thanks for sharing.

droopsnoot

When you buy VED close to the end of the month, it's your choice whether you have a disc that starts on the first of the new month (and therefore is not valid until then), or one that starts right away but throws away most of the month. You might expect someone behind the counter to make sure which of those you wanted, but they might have been having a bad day and decided not to. Or you might have not heard the question. Or any number of other things.

As jimjames said, unfortunately you've got no chance doing anything about this now, the PO will simply say that you should have checked it while you were stood at the counter handing over the money for the first disc. The reminder in December also told you that you'd bought VED until December 31st, not January 31st, but even by then it was too late to rectify the situation if you'd noticed it.

All you can do is put it down to experience unfortunately, and resolve to check things more thoroughly in the future.