DVLA - what a [zb] joke (car tax)

[rob_k]

So you know if you have to renew car tax you can do it either online, via main PO or via DVLA local office. I’m still waiting for the V5 for mine so didn’t want to risk doing it online in case the car is still reg’d to previous keeper (which, as it turns out, it still is) and nor did I want to [zb] about standing in PO queues for hours, so went off ro the DVLA office behind Sainsbugs at Crossgates.

What a [zb] joke this place is. Perfect example of why there needs to be 400,000 public sector job cuts. How difficult is it to check some docs and print out a tax disk? 1 person job, maybe 2-3 mins max after taking card payment. Oh no, THREE separate people needed to do it and THREE sets of queues to wait in! First queue is the initial consultation (WTF?) where you tell them what you want. They check your documents and then you should go the waiting area for your number to be called, but because I didn’t have the tax renewal form they wouldn’t let me do that. But wait… I’d already done my intel on that and printed out the ‘apply for a tax disk’ form at home and filled it in with all the right details, so what’s the problem? “We can’t use that because you’ve only printed one side of the form out”. WTF? Do you know what’s on the other side of the form? Instructions on how to apply for a tax disk - that is it, nothing else, nothing to fill in, so why tf do they need that? “It’s standard procedure sir”. ■■? So he then gives me an IDENTICAL form to fill in instead, the only difference being this one has instructions on the other side.

I says to him “so what’s different about this one? Looks the same to me”

“It is, it’s the same form but we need your details on one of our forms”

“It is on one of your own forms, I printed it from your website!”

“Well it’s not the same is it sir, because your form is blank on the back”

“That’s because there is nothing to fill in on the other side, it’s just the instructions on how to apply, which I already know, hence me standing in front of you as per the instructions”

“We can’t process your tax disk until you fill in the correct form”.

I was ready to tell him exactly what I thought, ie. go swivel, the info you need is already there, but the bunch of cretins would probably call security or some BS which would mean I’d have to get the tax elsewhere, not helping my current situation.

So I copies the [zb] info across and went and sat in the waiting area for my number to be called (169). 181 comes and goes and I’m still sat there, so I goes up to the window and asks wtf is going on.

“Have you had to fill in a form?”

“Yeah, because I don’t have the V5”

“OK, have you had your completed form checked?”

“No, I’m waiting for my number to be called”

“You need your form checked first”

“No, you need to go to the checking operator over there >”

SIGH “Right, why didn’t anyone say that instead of me sitting here like a lemon?”

So then you have to go and wait in the queue for the checker, who then signs your completed form, but wants to check all your documents again, even though the “initial consultation” guy is stood 2ft away from him.

Back to the waiting area, another 5 mins of sitting about and eventually I gets the [zb] tax disk.

I kid you not, it must’ve taken a good 45 mins from start to finish. I could’ve got it done in the Leeds main PO at 1230pm in half that time and they know what they’re doing in the POs as well.

[lycanthrope]

Gotta agree with you Rob, far to many zb’s in offices getting paid for doing nothing at all, I did some removal/installation thing in some council offices once and everyone just stood around drinking coffee and gossiping all day. Sack the lot of them, all useless.

[norfolknewbie]

Sounds like a lot of fun for you - absolute priceless x x

[jessicas_dad]

i was thinking of using that place but have thought better of it now.

[calebs_gramps]

you done well there Rob,i think id have lost my rag and walked.

[somerset_bus_driver]

45 minutes wait is nothing…

The Bristol office has been known to have queues that go out the door…

The local car dealers have people waiting in the Q and motor cyclists to courier the tax discs etc about.

Very much like the way business is conducted in India! If it can be done by one person, employ five

[wheel_nut]

I used to go to Beverley almost every day when I was working for my Brother, as car dealers we had the system licked or so we thought, until we needed a cherished transfer Most of the time, the checker looked at the insurance certificates but trusted us as we checked them ourselves, then you had to slide them onto a pile to be processed, occasionally trying to slide them in a little higher They didnt use the number display, just called out the dealers name. But I can see your frustration as they used to run Joe Public ragged and it was a game to them I reckon.

When Hull licensing office was open in the 80’s they had queues around the building, thank christ for dealer link, the automatic link to DVLA which allows dealers to print their own tax discs.

[bigvern1]

Couldn’t happen to a nicer man Rob!

[killsville]

I understand your frustration Rob. I’ve had a few run in’s at DVLA in Sheffield in the past!

I was in the same situation (i.e. No V5) when I bought my last car back in February. I just printed a form (V10, I think) off the internet and went into the local Post Office. They didn’t even keep the form and just gave it back to me having entered the details on the computer. Got the tax disc within about 2 minutes. Surely there should be a set system in place, but of course, this is Britain where everybody does things different!

[tc_trans]

I often use the DVLA office in Northampton, and am very pleased to say that each time it has gone very smoothly, usually in and out in about 10 minutes tops.

[scanny77]

abolish car tax - problem solved.

cut down on these civil servant morons. i can see the point in car tax a few years ago to ensure your vehicle has all of the necessary documents but these days they can check your car without even stopping you so car tax has no purpose apart from robbing the motorist

[big_joe]

Rob K:
What a [zb] joke this place is. Perfect example of why there needs to be 400,000 public sector job cuts:x

These sort of places really do boil my ■■■■, in their eyes they’re an essential industry well FFS.
There was some woman from the public sector union on Jeremy Whine from the the other day bleating about the job cuts, she stated something that nearly had me off the road as it set me bouncing with rage, her comment was classic,

‘‘If it wasn’t for the public sector, the private sector could not exist’’ …WTF is she on about, God help us.

[dunno_then]

Rob K:
So you know if you have to renew car tax you can do it either online, via main PO or via DVLA local office. I’m still waiting for the V5 for mine so didn’t want to risk doing it online in case the car is still reg’d to previous keeper (which, as it turns out, it still is) and nor did I want to [zb] about standing in PO queues for hours, so went off ro the DVLA office behind Sainsbugs at Crossgates.

What a [zb] joke this place is. Perfect example of why there needs to be 400,000 public sector job cuts. How difficult is it to check some docs and print out a tax disk? 1 person job, maybe 2-3 mins max after taking card payment. Oh no, THREE separate people needed to do it and THREE sets of queues to wait in! First queue is the initial consultation (WTF?) where you tell them what you want. They check your documents and then you should go the waiting area for your number to be called, but because I didn’t have the tax renewal form they wouldn’t let me do that. But wait… I’d already done my intel on that and printed out the ‘apply for a tax disk’ form at home and filled it in with all the right details, so what’s the problem? “We can’t use that because you’ve only printed one side of the form out”. WTF? Do you know what’s on the other side of the form? Instructions on how to apply for a tax disk - that is it, nothing else, nothing to fill in, so why tf do they need that? “It’s standard procedure sir”. ■■? So he then gives me an IDENTICAL form to fill in instead, the only difference being this one has instructions on the other side.

I says to him “so what’s different about this one? Looks the same to me”

“It is, it’s the same form but we need your details on one of our forms”

“It is on one of your own forms, I printed it from your website!”

“Well it’s not the same is it sir, because your form is blank on the back”

“That’s because there is nothing to fill in on the other side, it’s just the instructions on how to apply, which I already know, hence me standing in front of you as per the instructions”

“We can’t process your tax disk until you fill in the correct form”.

I was ready to tell him exactly what I thought, ie. go swivel, the info you need is already there, but the bunch of cretins would probably call security or some BS which would mean I’d have to get the tax elsewhere, not helping my current situation.

So I copies the [zb] info across and went and sat in the waiting area for my number to be called (169). 181 comes and goes and I’m still sat there, so I goes up to the window and asks wtf is going on.

“Have you had to fill in a form?”

“Yeah, because I don’t have the V5”

“OK, have you had your completed form checked?”

“No, I’m waiting for my number to be called”

“You need your form checked first”

“No, you need to go to the checking operator over there >”

SIGH “Right, why didn’t anyone say that instead of me sitting here like a lemon?”

So then you have to go and wait in the queue for the checker, who then signs your completed form, but wants to check all your documents again, even though the “initial consultation” guy is stood 2ft away from him.

Back to the waiting area, another 5 mins of sitting about and eventually I gets the [zb] tax disk.

I kid you not, it must’ve taken a good 45 mins from start to finish. I could’ve got it done in the Leeds main PO at 1230pm in half that time and they know what they’re doing in the POs as well.

Could’nt have happened to a better person