DVLA Unlicensed Vehicle £160 Surety - Refusal to Refund

jh2017fc

My vehicle was clamped for being unlicensed recently - my fault. I paid £100 to get it unclamped and £160 as surety so as to go and get it taxed. The £160 would then be returned to me by the clampers, Redcorn Ltd, if I did so within 15 days.

The car needed an MOT so it had to go in for some work first. Then it got its MOT - the the 15th day!! I phoned DVLA to tax the car and was told they could not "see" my new MOT on their system, so I should go to a Post Office armed with the paper version of my new MOT and pay my tax and get a receipt, and then I would get my £160 refunded.

But no - this took place at around 5pm on the 15th day, and Redcorn Ltd close down their telephone lines at precisely 5pm everyday, without fail, with a short clear recorded message to say to call back next day - no Voicemail, no leave a message.

I spoke to DVLA again that same day about this conundrum - I explained that I had now taxed my vehicle but could not notify the clampers who took the £160 surety because they close down their telephone system at 5pm each day (Monday to Friday).

DVLA told me that as long as I had my printed reciept showing I taxed the vehicle on the 15th day then I could ring the clampers, Redcorn Ltd, the next day and they would issue the surety refund.

I did this but Redcorn refused. They said they need a confirmation in writing from the DVLA that this was okay with them. I phoned the DVLA again and they declined to do this, saying they did not enter into communication with their contractors on this sort of matter. They said Redcorn took the surety money directly from me. Redcorn held the money. It was downm to Redcorn to return it to me.

I phoned Redcorn again and this time they demanded I write via e-mail setting out my case. So I did - via e-mail. They did not respond. I telephoned Redcorn again to check they'd received my e-mail, and they told me they would respond "within 48 hours" of receiving any e-mail. They did not. After 4 days' waiting, I telephoned Redcorn again. They said they had received my e-mail and they had sent me an e-mail response but that it had "bounced back to them". Asked by me why they did not then either try again or try to contact me by other means, they gave no response. They would therefore seem to be in breach of their protocol of responding to complaints/requests/appeals etc within 48 hours. If they know their e-mail response was bouned back they know they have no responded surely?

They did tell me that their bounced e-mail had said they reject my request for refund of the £160 surety because I was "too late". They did not accept that the closure of their telephone line was effectively blocking my chance to tell them about the tax on my vehicle.

They told me to leave them alone and suggested no remedy. I am planning to write formally to the DVLA wheelclamper complaints service.

Is there anything else I can do? This must have happened to someone else. Redcorn kept asking me why I had left it to the 15th day, and I explained the car needed work done so it could get through an MOT and THEN and only then could I tax it, and anyway, they told me I had 15 days, so I took 15 days. The fact they shut down at 5pm but don't stipulate that you must tell them BY 5pm on the 15th Day seems to me where they are at fault.

Please can anyone advise?

sevenhills

I think you are down £160, you did not get back to them in 15 days, many companies close at 5pm, its not unusual.

n217970

jh2017fc wrote: »

my fault

Exactly.

jh2017fc wrote: »

The car needed an MOT so it had to go in for some work first. Then it got its MOT - the the 15th day!!

So it wasn't road worthy to begin with. Think yourself lucky your were not in an accident. You had no tax or MOT and you left it until slightly after 5pm on the last day to resolve, your organisation is crap. £160 is cheap for a lesson well learned.

Tilt

When did the last MOT expire?

Aylesbury_Duck

I'm with the others. A lesson learned for your disorganisation on two occasions. An MOT shouldn't be a substitute for keeping on top of the roadworthiness of your car. You failed to do that and failed to remember to tax it.

arcon5

Whether you was organised or not is irrelevant. If they stated you get it back if taxed within 15 days then you should get it back.

Look to send then a letter before action and pursue a county court claim.

The whole see it as an expensive lesson notion is pathetic. You already paid a penalty by that point

marlot

Sounds like you're lucky not to have been pulled over for driving an unroadworthy vehicle?

I think you have several options.

• Somehow launch a formal appeal within DVLA (it is their subcontractor, after all).
• Issue a small claims case against the clampers using moneyonline (issue a Letter before action first).
• Just chalk it up to experience and move on.

AdrianC

I think a few people might benefit from re-reading the OP - there's no mention that the car was in use.

Anyway - I don't think it unrealistic that the company require notification within 15 days, or that their opening hours are typical office hours. What time on day 15 did you actually get the car taxed? Few major post offices are open particularly late.

Alter_ego

AdrianC wrote: »

I think a few people might benefit from re-reading the OP - there's no mention that the car was in use.

But presumably on public road.

marlot

AdrianC wrote: »

I think a few people might benefit from re-reading the OP - there's no mention that the car was in use.

I agree - that's why I put a question mark at the end of my comment.

jh2017fc

I don't want to get dragged into a morality debate about my offence. I have accepted my guilt. I have paid £100.00 for the vehicle to be released from a wheelclamp. I have paid the £160.00 surety pending getting the vehicle taxed.

I paid the annual vehicle license tax on the 15th day. I now must pay back-tax and a fine for having an unlicensed vehicle.

The vehicle was parked on a road at the time of my offence, which was really really unlucky because I had just taken it out of a private garage where it had been kept off-road for several months.

I had popped into my home with a few things from the boot of my car which I was then going to take into a local garage a few hundred feet away for the servicing and MOT. In that short 10-minutes, Bingo - I was clamped!!

What I still feel aggrieved about is that I was told I had 15 days to get the vehicle licensed so that's what I did. I was not told that I had until 5pm of the 15th day. Oh and by the way, most Post Offices open until 5.30 pm. I paid my Licence Tax at 5.20pm - 20 minutes too late to tell the clampers, Redcorn Ltd.

Is it normal business practice these days, in the context of being an authorised agent of the DVLA, to restrict one's business hours for communication with "customers" from 8am-5pm Monday - Friday, and NOT tell them that that means they must make contact by 5pm?

The DVLA leaflet on "Wheelclamping and removing vehicles" states: "How to claim a refund of the surety fee - You must get Vehicle Tax within 15 days and contact the vehicle pound...after this period you will lose the surety fee. Please note: You may need to provide confirmation of Vehicle Tax."

Thanks for the advice re: small claims court - I am wondering what law(s) I might use to argue my case that the surety should be returned - Consumer Protection?? I will send a Complaint to the DVLA's wheelclamping complaints service and I might contact someone like the BBC's You and Yours, as I really do see this as a "bit of an earner" for the wheelclampers with a blind eye being turned by the DVLA.