SORN! Be-jesus

[nigel bickle]

We all know that annual SORN's ended on 16th December.

 

Clearly DVLA don't, because I received 5 separate envelopes this morning ,each containing a SORN reminder. Doubtless I'll receive a few more in the post tomorrow (I get at least a dozen each month).

 

Checking that I no longer needed to SORN,  I went online to be told that my SORN was now infinite, if I wanted to now tax the vehicle I needed to visit a Post Office as the V11 (Reminder) was invalid!

 

Now, I might be thick,   but DVLA have known this was going to happen for MONTHS- and its been over 3 weeks since it came in.

 

Did no one think to tell the Print to stop -and the Franking Machine to save all that damn postage?

 

The forms are totally useless. No good for anything at all.

 

What a complete & absolute waste of money, that will simply confuse the less aware & simple minded.

 

Fuckwits.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Oh nooooooooooo! Cue 97 Billion Pistonheads threads posted by Ron Numpty and his less gifted pals!

[derskine]

To be honest I think things are probably all over the place at the DVLA at the moment with all the closures etc, I hardly thing most of the workers are motivated to care (even less than previously)

[skattrd]

I've just half a dozen SORN reminders through the post today as well

[Station]

DVLA in incompetence shocker!

[cort16]

Have the DVLA got you on their most wanted list? Do you ever get so pissed off with it you think about a massive fleet reduction? It all sounds quite stressfull to me.

[retrogeezer]

as I've said before, it's someone elses money so they can waste as much as they like.

[FredTransit]

why do I suspect all those unused SORN reminders will trigger automatic fines?

[Angrydicky]

Got a tax reminder for the Maestro mid-December too, filed it in the bin as I'd already sorned it and cashed the tax in two months previously.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Nice work Hirst!!!!! Let us know what they say.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Seriously, why send a letter asking  DVLA to spend public money on nowt explaining why DVLA is spending public money on nowt?  

 

PS:  if letter written in green ink or typed on 1957 typewriter with wonky r key, that's OK: proceed.  

[Guest Breadvan72]

Query: is your plan working?

[sheffcortinacentre]

yep got one too, i'm also waiting on 2 new type logbooks promised a year ago & 2 from early dec 2013.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Query: is your plan working?

fairly certain hirst is not deploying some sort of strategic masterplan, more a case of simply using an available tool to attempt to view a measure of wastage from a government agency. Its not possible to say if its 'working' or not as it has not generated a result yet, positive or negative. Maybe you could ask George Osborne if his economic policy is 'working' of not - he'll almost certainly be able to give you the simple yes or no answer you're looking for.

[scruff]

Just had one land on the doormat... 

[Guest Breadvan72]

fairly certain hirst is not deploying some sort of strategic masterplan, more a case of simply using an available tool to attempt to view a measure of wastage from a government agency. Its not possible to say if its 'working' or not as it has not generated a result yet, positive or negative. Maybe you could ask George Osborne if his economic policy is 'working' of not - he'll almost certainly be able to give you the simple yes or no answer you're looking for.

 

 

I gather the plan has been going for some while, but the DVLA has not improved.  BTW, I know DVLA is far from perfect, but am I the only one who never has any problem with it?  My V5s, SORNs, VEDs, address changes etc etc all get dealt with quickly and correctly.  

[nigel bickle]

2nd bundle arrived today.

 

Something 'may' have changed- previously I'd receive 3 or 4 in ONE envelope; this time they were individually posted!  

 

That's not happened before  ( leastways not in living memory) cant think why  other than to increase their postage  costs?

[garbaldy]

I agree that if everyone who has bother with the doovla complained to their mp then the guberment might know they have a problem, I bet only a small percentage do though.

On a personal note i have to say out of over 160 cars and a 100 odd bikes I have only had a hand full of problems with the doovla

[ShiteRider]

I got a road tax reminder for the BMW yesterday..

......the one i sold 2-3 months ago.....and got a letter from the dvla confirming change of ownership 7 weeks ago.....that one.

[panhard65]

I post everything to the dvla recorded delivery now as they have lost so many v5's. They say that you should contact them if you haven't recieved a notification of change of keeper but not until they have had the paperwork for at least 6 weeks. If you sell quite a few cars it gets a nightmare knowing what paperwork you are waiting for and don't get me started on the fines for not declaring sorn on a change of ownership. The local offices were useful at least you could talk to someone face to face now that has gone everything goes through swansea. Where it has to be translated into welsh for the half a dozen people who can actually speak it. They would be better off translating it to polish as there are more polish speaking people in the country than welsh. Grrr rant over

[nigel bickle]

Hirst,

 

Eloquent & to the point.  Spot on.

[RichardMoss]

I gather the plan has been going for some while, but the DVLA has not improved.  BTW, I know DVLA is far from perfect, but am I the only one who never has any problem with it?  My V5s, SORNs, VEDs, address changes etc etc all get dealt with quickly and correctly.  

No you're not the only one.  I have always had excellent service from the DVLA and when I've had any kind of issue they have been helpful and efficient.

 

With regard to SORN, I suspect that the whole change was thrown at them with little or no notice and given that they are dealing with over 30 million cars and millions of drivers - not to mention trucks, buses, bikes, tractors etc.  Changing the system that looks after all these is a bit like trying to do a J-turn is a supertanker - it's not going to happen in seconds!

[Guest Breadvan72]

I do care if other people have problems, and accept that DVLA has a bad rep.  I wonder sometimes if the bad rep is slightly exaggerated, but can't be sure of that.  I am all in favour of challenging duff deeds by Government bodies, but I am not sure that lobbing FOIA requests is the right tactic.  

[Guest Breadvan72]

In that event your aim may perhaps not be achieved.  If persistent unlawful conduct can be shown, as in the case of the seizure of untaxed vehicles from residential car parks, then a legal challenge might run.  Hell, I might even do it pro bono.  Persistent dodginess short of illegality might be worth an Ombudsman shout, although I CBA just at present to look up whether DVLA is within the Ombudsman's jurisdiction, as I have to go and get a carry out from the local branch of Ho Flung Dung.

 

I am not having a pop at you, by the way. I am genuinely querying whether your approach will bear fruit. 

[nigel bickle]

I agree with Hirsts approach.

 

Us 'little people# have no real recourse to the law (-unless we've very deep pockets) & a large % of the population feel (we) are constantly being shafted 'by the machine' nowadays.

 

Too much stick -not enough carrot -with little chance of foreseeable improvement.

 

So BV, whilst you may indeed see it from a legal stance, we have to approach form the 'protest' position, hoping to will gradually gain some momentum.

 

It may work, it probably wont -but it will make us feel better, sticking it to the man!

[Bobthebeard]

The DVLA is a massive bureaucracy in a similar way that the NHS is... Some people have good experiences, some don't.

All down to luck really. Eventually, if enough people stick up for themselves and complain about the bad experiences change must (at glacial speed) actually happen surely. Mostly though, in my experience, people don't complain. They either can't be arsed, just moan or are pathetically grateful when they eventually get some kind of reasonable service. Admittedly complaining to any organisation as massive and complicated as the DVLA is going to be difficult and seem pointless. But if enough people aren't happy and say so loudly and often enough eventually it may change. Hopefully!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

As one of the simple minded less aware, I just tried to SORN a vehicle for which I received a reminder today .

It won't let me do it online,when I do a check it says it's sorned. But then it is until the end of January anyway.

To make things worse I sold the car almost a year ago,didn't sort out the logbook at the time,then when I went to see the guy to do the paperwork a few weeks later he'd inconveniently died! As I know it's been scrapped I was just going to infinitely SORN it and forget about it.

[derek9213]

In that event your aim may perhaps not be achieved.  If persistent unlawful conduct can be shown, as in the case of the seizure of untaxed vehicles from residential car parks, then a legal challenge might run.  Hell, I might even do it pro bono.  Persistent dodginess short of illegality might be worth an Ombudsman shout, although I CBA just at present to look up whether DVLA is within the Ombudsman's jurisdiction, as I have to go and get a carry out from the local branch of Ho Flung Dung.

 

I am not having a pop at you, by the way. I am genuinely querying whether your approach will bear fruit.

 

having had ongoing problems every year with dvla on a matter going on for over 8 years now (over a scrapped vehicle) i have been informed by dvla themselves and my MP that they do not have a  governing body that can be contacted and do not fall under any ombudsman service.

 

this sadly means that you have no choice barr bang your head against a brick wall and try to get these uninterested, thick as s..t b..tards working for dvla to understand that you need them to do a simple thing that might require them to put in a little effort to earn their wages for the day

 

rant over

 

apologies that my first post was a rant but i firmly believe a shake up over the way dvla is run is way overdue

[panhard65]

I did have a bit of luck with a scrapped vehicle a couple of years ago. I sent it to a breakers and gave them the v5. They said they would notify the dvla. It was just a frame from a scooter so unlikely to go back on the road. 9 months later I got the sorn notice. I then found out that 4 cars I had sent to this yard had not been removed from the vehicle record. I went to the local office and a very helpful young lady sorted it all out. I just had to write a letter stating what had happened and a week later I got the confirmation letters and no fines. This doesn't help anyone anymore now as they closed all the local offices. It is such a shame that the helpful staff are outnumbered by the incompetent ones at least 10 to 1. They really should have some regulation or proper complaints procedure as it is they just get away with wasting as much taxpayer money as they like and give very poor service. Hopefully one day if enough people complain long enough a politician might get off their arse long enough to do something about it

[Guest Breadvan72]

Find the right case for a legal challenge and I'm yer free lawyer, but I don't think that tying up a bureaucracy in more letter writing bureaucracy gets us far.  Rage against the machine is OK, but not when we pay for the rage.  I also don't assume all civil servants to be dicks.  If some of them are maybe it is because they get dick wages.    Some get non dick wages and are still dicks, of course.