Refund of Residents Parking Permit - council demanding a copy of my bank statement

SacredStephan

I recently sold my car and I'm not planning to replace it immediately.

DVLA sent me a payable order for the road tax refund.

I asked my local council about surrendering my residents parking permit for a refund.

They say:

- I must send them a photo of the permit cut in half, and

- I must send them my bank details, and

- I must send them a photo of my bank statement

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We will also require proof of bank account, this can be either one of the following:

. A bank statement minus the balance.

. Or a headed letter if it is a company detailing the account name, account number and sort code and 

customers address.

All proofs must show account name, account number, sort code, bank name and customer address. Please 

note without the proof of bank account a refund will not be processed

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The permit was originally paid by credit card.

I'm happy to give them bank account details or credit card details but why do they need "proof of bank account"?

I think this demand is unreasonable.

It is normal for councils to do this?

Brie

Don't know if it's normal but I would guess it's to ensure that they are refunding the correct individual.  Anyone could steal your permit, give the council bank details and claim the money.  This way they can match it to you at your address.  That said I would expect they could do the same with a credit card statement but perhaps they don't have a process to refund via a CC.

400ixl

Because it will have your address on it to prove that you are who you say you, the account belongs to you, and that you are living at an address that the permit applies to.

Otherwise you could have found the permit on the street and be trying to cash it in.

Doesn't seem unreasonable to me, and likely matches the process to get the permit in the first place (although that may have been a utility bill to the address being applied from).