Emailing Your Complaint re the DVLA

[lonerider]

Hi.

 

Many things are wrong with the DVLA and not much is right.

 

Here are a couple of email addresses that may help you:

 

noel.shanahan@dvla.gsi.gov.uk (Chief Excutive DVLA)

He is the boss, that being Chief Excutive. He has been with the DVLA for over 22 years. Is paid £102,000 for doing a really bad job of losing forms then getting Philips Collection Services to fine you, who are / were being investigated for having unlicensed software on about 100 computers. FOIA to the DVLA confirmed this but this were kept behing closed door.

 

andrew.adonis@dft.gsi.gov.uk (Secretary Of State For Transport)

Secretary Of State For Transport, after taking over Mr Hoon MP. He is the main man to complain to This is Noel Shanahan Boss. If you recieve incorrect information, or the DVLA has lost your form, then this is the man who needs to know when the DVLA mess up.

 

You will also need to locate your local MP and get them supporting your case. When you phone them, your MP will ring you back and ask some basic questions and they will then send a letter to Mr Shanahan. Your MP will then write back to you. If the news is not what you was expecting, i.e they lost your form or did not recieve it you need to ask your MP to to refer this complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and The Rt Hon Lord Adonis Secretary of State for Transport. This is very important. The PHSO will NOT investigate if it has not been refered by an MP.

On a final note, the DVLA is under a lot of scrunity at the moment so the more you local press know, the better. Many of you will recieve £80 fines for LLP meaning the DVLA has either lost your SORN form, or royal mail has lost it. The The DVLA will use many DCA, as soon as you inform the DVLA that this is in dispute the DCA cant send out any more threats. Thats all they are. Ignore. No point phoning them. Remember the DVLA does not have an official complaints procedure with the DVLA. If you have a complaint the Boss can refer your complaint to an independent body, but he decides not you if your case will get heard. So, if you sent your SORN they dont recieve it, you complain after getting a fine, tough. You will not get a hearing. The more people know about this the better.

Edited January 29, 2010 by lonerider

[buzby]

I would suggest that you do not use there addresses in the first instance, ONLY when you reach the end of the road (!) using the standard methods.

 

It is often the case that when these routes become the first point of contact, they lose their effectiveness, and (in many cases) are deactivated or ignored as not an (official) point of contact.

[Professor Lone Ranger]

It is not true to state 'you will not get a hearing'. I have been in dispute with the DVLA for approaching three years and have a hearing date set. I understand DVLA's normal practice is simply not ot turn up but in thei case I have submitted a counter claim of unlawful harrasment so I think they might feel oblieged to appear. I could do with some help preparing the case if anybody has experience I can call on. I am having some trouble finding the appropriate relevant law so if anybody can help point me in the right direction I would be most grateful.

[buzby]

What harassment did you recieve at their hands? (As this would usually be deemed incomptent in a civil action).

[Professor Lone Ranger]

Then perhaps I am wrong. I consider making threats to clamp,seize, charge release fees, crush cars, take legal action potentially damaging to one's credit rating and making harassing telephone calls demanding payment of an unproven debt anything but incompetent. I would call that serious harassment or bullying intended to coerce or frighten the victim into paying what is demanded whether or not there is any lawful basis for it. I agree that those who are in positions of power and authority who permit or even encourage such conduct could be described as 'incompetent but how does that help the victims? Is there some case law you would be able to draw my attention to?'

[buzby]

Harassment is a criminal act. It has many degrees, but like misusing the term 'abuse', harassment has a similar status. What you might consider to be serious harassment could have someone ROFL at the temerity of their approach, and treat it with contempt.

 

To succeed with a claim of harassment, you would need to complain to the police, have them investigate, and the CPS or PF decide to prosecute. It would be safe to say the to be successful in this, you would need to have pretty compelling evidence, or at least some physical injuries and a medical report to sustain the claim.

 

I heard one judge rebuke a claimant in court that if he though what he 'suffered' was harassment, he had an unreasonable expectation of what it actually was. Everyone is a victim (or 'target') the secret is to treat them all with the same contempt. That way, you can't go far wrong - and won't become a basket case in the process!

[Professor Lone Ranger]

This is very interesting.

 

Harassment is indeed a criminal act but there is a civil remedy and no the police do not have to be involved. The CPS will not take cases on they are not certain of winning so what is the point of asking the police? We make laws then suppress them. That is how ASBOS cam about I expect I have made my claim and it has not been remarked on, which it surely would have been if it was a none starter? The law on harassment is nice and simple. There was a case that went to the court of appeal wherein neighbours did not get on well. The police were involved and the court gave an injunction to stop the naughty neighbours from their bad conduct. Soon after the neighbour with the injunction on him was silly enough to say in his neighbour's hearing about his dog 'Ill kill that F.......g dog. The court of appeal strongly confirmed the six month prison sentence that was being appealed saying if you threaten a person's dog you threaten them. The law on harassment simply states that if a person or persons behave towards another(s) in a way that any reasonable person would consider to be harassment, it is harassment. I think I am a reasonable person and I believe that if the enforcers appointed by the DVLA do what they do to coerce people into paying very dubious 'fines' they are guilty of harassment. I think it is time that people stopped cowering and stood up to the bully boys who seem to be in charge of this country. I aim to do my bit. Of course those who spend their lives in court who see such horrors as they do, may not realise that you do not need to have a broken glass held in your face, before the harassment threshold has been reached. I am all for making it much lower than that. This used to be a country where people were polite open and friendly to each other now it is full of frightened people, and, the DVLA is doing its best to keep it that way, as it is good for business and revenue collection.

[buzby]

Personal utopian ideals are one thing. Expecting these expectations to be somehow upheld by the courts is unrealistic and ultimately fruitless (as you will see if you attempt to make capital of it.

 

As you point out in your last sentence - they do it this way as (one would assume) it achieved the desired effect in most cases, so providing they achieve their goals, parliament will be happy.

[Professor Lone Ranger]

I thought I was cynical !!!

[buzby]

Not at all. University of Life (Graduate with honours).

[Professor Lone Ranger]

I still believe in justice

[Professor Lone Ranger]

I still believe injustice

[buzby]

You'll not have spent much time in court listening to proceedings then? Invariably, you get the justice you can afford. Nothing to do with any belief system.

[Professor Lone Ranger]

I have some experience in what you describe but as a soldier - no longer active; I was not taught how to give up; just as those who are now on duty in Afghanistan were not. I will fight on.

[buzby]

Absolutely correct. It is simply that it is often possible to continue to beat yourself up over something that is simply 'the system'. It isn't fair, it isn't right, it should never happen in a civilised society.

 

But it does.

 

As long as you realise this, as unfairness often triumphs it would be foolish to take it to heart and threat it as a personal cause that must be won at all costs. This is usually the road to ruin (financial, mental and marital), and nothing is worth that!

[Professor Lone Ranger]

We agree! What matters is trying. I find my failures result in later changes that benefit others.

[buzby]

I find mine deplete my bank balance. Want to swap?