August 2008
Has anyone else experienced a similar problem and found anyone of help at the DVLA.
The other day a DVLA van clamped my car whilst they called for a tow truck, guy said the car was showing as untaxed. On noticing that it did appear to have a valid tax disc he removed the clamp and advised I move it before the truck arrived and then ring the DVLA.
Phoned the DVLA, what a helpful bunch of people, I explained that I had personally bought the tax through one of their post office agents three months before, had been given a receipt at the time and could supply the name of the PO and the disc number. However that was of no interest, their stance is that the car isn't taxed, therefore I should buy a new tax disc, not at a post office, it would have to be at a DVLA office. In addition if I asked nicely and filled out some forms they'd take the disc that I'd paid £400 for and investigate further.
I phoned the PO and they were very helpful, they tracked the disc to their paperwork and provided a DVLA transaction number that they only get when the disc is scanned and the transaction is complete. In their opinion it's a DVLA problem as the transaction has gone through. So phoned back the DVLA and got the same spiel, eventually though I got transferred to someone who seemingly wanted to help. I explained that imho I'd done all I could from my end and that the onus should be with the DVLA to resolve the problem. He seemed to accept that and gave me a fax number for their investigations team. So faxed all the information I could gather and a week or so later, nothing.
When I ring up I get the runaround, passed from one clueless jobsworth to another and I'm at a loss as how to get this resolved. I'm still driving the car, I'd be lost without it, needless to say I'm concerned that the cameras or the police aren't going being very interested in my excuse. Read more
HI All, .
I have a legal question, A friend of mine was pulled over by police, who said he had no Insurance according to their computer, he denied this, saying he only taxed his car last week and would have needed the insurance to do so.
The police followed him to his house but he was unable to find the insurance certificate immediately, and police towed his car away.
He found and presented the insurance paperwork that evening at the local station only 4 hours later. Turns out his insurance company's details are not displayed on the Police National Computer,
He had his car returned, however it cost him £140.
Is this normal procedure?
Should he not have 3 days to present his details?
is it normal for an insurance company not to show up on the PNC?
Can he reclaim his £140.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
moved across from IHAQ.
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Yes, that certainly makes me think some of these instances where they will not issue a duplicate with the original date are where somehow, no original certificate was issued (and no policy existed, although it may well be covered by their own insurance against cockups)
My mother has just received a notice of intended prosecution from the Police for careless and inconsiderate driving, this relates to apparently scratching another car whilst backing out of a space in a multi-story carpark.
She was very surprised at this as she was not aware of having touched a car whilst backing out but on inspecting her own car found a small amount of paint and a rubber mark as it from a tyre. Presumeably there must either have been a witness or a camera to record this, otherwise how do we know that it was not another car scraping along her vehicle that left the paint?
Assuming she is at fault here, I would have expected that she be asked for her insurance details in order for a repair to be carried out. Instead she has received this Notice of Intended Prosecution. This does seem rather OTT in the circumstances.
Is this normal? Also can someone be prosecuted whilst on private property?
I would be grateful for any thoughts on this. She is actually a very careful driver and good at manoeuvring the car, never having touched another vehicle whilst parking in the past and is very upset about the prospect of being prosecuted.
Olly
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jbif
>>>>>>DVD - was this extension following this judgement?
www.rjerrard.co.uk/law/cases/clarke1.htm<<<<<<
At the time of those cases for S143 offence one had to prove that it was on a 'road' only and it was held that a car park was not a road.
Following on from this to cover such an ommission then they passed The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Regs 2000 which made it an offence not to be insured when vehicle in a 'public' place'. Likewise it made it an offence to fail to stop/report an accident on a 'public place' (SI 2000/726). Before this it only referred to a 'road'.
1991 RTA amended S 3 RTA 88 to bring in 'public place' for due care did it not.
From what stated by OP this whilst not a 'road' as such it still could be a 'public place'
As to what is or what isn't provides PU with a full pocket and smile from his Bank Manager but at the end of the day it is a question of fact for the Magistrates to decide upon.
dvd
Im not entirely sure of the year of manufacture however the car is a vauxhall astra (v reg) 1.6 16v auto.
The problem i am having is that for that past 2 months of having the car the power steering has intermittently gone off and come back on again whilst driving at no particular time, Now the steering has completely failed and has given me a constant battery light on the dashboard, a funny thing is that when this happened i turned on the fans which made the battery light go off and let the power steering work again for about 2 minutes now it doesnt work at all. The indicator on the battery itself is green, the belts are tight and are moving and the fluid levels are ok (battery warning light remains constant)
Any help on this would be most appreciated
thank you Chris Golson
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OK alternator has been replaced and sorted the problem out. Thank you very much.
however now when the car is running there is a bearing squeal which appears to be coming from the tension pulley was there a special method to put the tension pulley back on or is it simply a worn pulley or is the pulley too tight(pulley did not seem to move freely when it was off)
any ideas would b very helpful
Learner1982
Hello, I am considering the small estate from Volvo. The V50 and have looked at the company's website which shows a feature of being able to fold the front passenger seat flat to create a continuous flat load bay floor. Is this really true, as I have also read that to fold the back seats down it is necessary to lift up the bench seat and remove the headrests, so I dont see how the load bay can be flat all the way to the front.
Can the bench seat be removed completely?
what is the maximum width of the load bay, at the smallest point it looks to be 1 metre.
Further, I have seen a picture, whereby the load bay floor can lift up and there is space underneath, in the form of a polystyrene moulding (no spare wheel), can this floor and polystyrene moulding be removed too? Read more
Hi,
I've a 2006 V50 but I expect that there is no change in the dimensions.
The boot is OK I find apart from when I load up to go on holiday. I have a 2 yr old so we still take a lot of things with us when we go anywhere.
The loadbay is about 96cm wide between the wheel arches and 98 long. It's a bit wider nearer the back and can generally take any pushchair, etc. widthways but not lengthways. From using a focus estate as a hire car the focus is a bit bigger.
There's only about 40cms of height before the tonneau needs to be removed which isn't very much when you've some suitcases.
As far as increasing the load area. You need to remove the head rests and pull up the bench to get a completely flat area approx. 160-170cm long. How easy this is depends on how far you have the drivers seat back. Mine is as far back as it goes as I've 6ft1. This means I need to push it a bit forward to get the seats flat but I don't need to do this very often anyway.
In order to drop the front passenger seat forward the back of the seat folds onto the seat base so it's not quite flat but angles up slightly. Have used this a few times and is useful for DIY shopping, etc. You do need to remove the tonneau and load net to make the most of it though.
Hope this helps. I'm happy with my v50 but I find the economy a bit poor unless you are very gentle with the accelerator, servicing a bit pricey and not too sure about long term reliability (see other posts).
Cheers
noz
Open a paper or turn on the radio or TV these days and all the talk is about going gree, downsizing cars to save on fuel, tax and so on but...
Are small cars such as the Yaris, Micra, Fiesta, Polo, etc, etc totally impractical for a tall people? Are they bad for the health of those who are tall or even overweight?
As more and more of us apparently aim to buy smaller cars are we doing our health a long-term injury? Are smaller cars more at risk of injury to the occupants in a car on car collision? What happens if you suddenly need to move something big or visit a DIY shed to buy that new garden mower?
As much as I would love to buy a small car I just cannot see how, for the reasons above, they would be practical unless - as is the case with virtually everyone I know who owns one - you are part of a two car family and your other car is a big 4X4, MPV or large saloon or estate. The only people I know who have a small car as their only car are retired couples.
I am 6 foot 2 inches tall, am single, have no family but I surf, so have need to carry a surfboard on the roof of my car, but otherwise I have no real need for a 'big car' other than that occasional trip to the airport with luggage in the back or a visit every now and then to a DIY shed. I have begun, for green reasons and economic reasons, to think about a Yaris but, heck, it is a push to fit in one and I expect, apart from being easier to park and cheap to run, there would be serious downsides in being to transport anything 'big' if I ever needed to... oh, and in such cars I have to push the seat so far back that no one could sit behind me anyhow... but this is the same for Focus, Golf, Asta, Mazda 3 and so on.
Or maybe car makers just don't think of tall people when they design and build cars? I can understand why so many people opt for easy to get in and out MPVs - if you are tall low seats in a great many cars are a strain on back, thighs and knees when you get in and out... an osteopath friend tells me that a great many people have cars that are too small for them and get in and out of such a car everyday when they would have no intention of walking around in shoes that were too small.
Oh dear, I meant to ask a simple question about superminis but seem to have got distracted.
I would be interested to hear thoughts and views on such cars and how practical or impractical they actually are. Read more
I have a colleague who is around 6 foot 5. He's well built as well. One of the amusements at the office when he turned up for work in his wife's Mini (original version) - more wore it than drove it.
Hi,
In our village the parish council owns various bits of land and on some of these we allow residents to park.
One resident has left an untaxed, unmot'ed mini (and it isnt going to get an mot in the state its in) on this land. Now parking is in short supply, and we have told the resident to remove this vehicle because we do not want scrap vehicles on our land.
Basically they are ignoring us.
We put a note on the vehicle telling them to remove it within 14 days or we would take action to have it removed.
Their response is that if we have it taken away it then it would be theft.
What can we do? Drag it onto the road and call DVLA? What organisations are empowered to remove a vehicle?
thanks
AC Read more
how do i cancel my post ?
You can't - just edit it to be blank, or put an apology for mis-posting or something along those lines.
The mods can though, so you could trying asking them nicely. However I think if other people have replied to your post it would mean those have to be deleted as well, so they might say no.
I've looked all over my 2006 1.2 E Polo to find the pollen filter, and checked the manual but I still can't find it!
Before I ring a dealer and make a fool of myself, does anyone know if it even has one? Read more
Oh yes indeedy. Hang upside down in the passenger foot-well and look up towards the car's centreline. See the plastic cover running front-rear with a slide clip on each end. Slide these clips together so they meet in the middle and pull/slide the cover off downwards.
Pinch the thin plastic flap visible (on bottom of filter) and pull all the way down and out. The flat filter element only just clears the floor, but it's okay. Look at it in horror and throw away, as you will already have visited you local motor shop (not Halfords) and bought for eg MAN C2295/3 for about £7.81p....
Good Morning All
I had been pumping the tyres for going on holiday, with a 12V electric compressor, and I had to have the ignition turned on to power the cigarette lighter socket. I switched off and disconnected the compressor but later when I went to start the car the "spanner light" came on with the ignition turned on. The engine started, the light went out and the engine appeared to be okay. I went out for a drive and it runs fine, not in limp home, no smoking just driving the same as usual.
However switching off the engine then turning the ignition back on causes the EML light to come on again until the engine is started. What is this likely to mean? Do I carry on and see what happens, do I get the fault code read or is there something else for me to try?
I would welcome any advice bearing in mind I'm off on holiday in a few days.
Thanks.
Brian Read more
That's strange because I first noticed the spanner light on Sunday 10th August and I noticed no spanner light on 20th August. I related the problem to using the electric compressor but it may have been on perhaps the day before and I hadn't noticed it but I think I would have noticed it if had been on before this.
Brian
I'm looking to buy a used Jaguar XK8. I saw one that I liked in Birmingham so I travelled from Cheshire to view it.
Mechanically & structurally it seemed perfect: just what I wanted! All the documentation seemed to be in perfect order. The last service stamp was from a local Main Dealer: I rang the dealer up and they confirmed that they had in deed serviced this vehicle and, when asked, did not mention any issues.
The Registration document was not in the name of the seller. The seller described himself as a Trader, trading from home. The seller said it was HPI clear but did not have any documentation to proove this.
At the end of the viewing, I said that I would definitely buy the car subject to my own HPI Check and would pay cash the next day. I did not leave a deposit.
When I got home, I carried out an on-line HPI Check; Shock Horror: It came up as having outstanding finance!
I contacted the seller about this who continued to maintain that there was no outstanding finance on it! Over the next 2 days there was numerous phone calls between me, the seller, HPI and Lombard Business Finance. Lombard Business Finance stated that the car was subject to 'Unit Stocking' finance from them; but the next day Lombard declared to me that this had now been cleared and that they now had no interest in car.
However, this did not show up on the repeat HPI Check - still listed as outstanding finance from Lombard. Both Lombard and the seller agreed that it was possible that it was just a matter of waiting for the information to go from Lombard to HPI and the computer system up-dating; no amount of persuasion from me succeeded in speeding this process up!
I am very interested in this car because it is the best bargain I have seen so far.
My question is: If the HPI Check finally comes up clear, is there anything else that could go wrong on the legal ownership side?
The car is publicly advertised (with its number plate visible) and parked just off a busy street.
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zm. Obviously!!! ;) [please note big smiley to indicate ironic observation]
>>but 90% of the posts in this thread are ignorant gibberish written by people who
>>don't have a clue as to how the motor trade works.
That would be my view too.
Consider the alternative scenario: that you do your HPI check, it comes back clear and THEN the trader gets a loan against his stock item. My goodness, that's really worrying.
Except... the last time I bought a car I did a basic HPI check on it (£3.95 or whatever it cost me) imagining that it provided some sort of insurance... NO! If you buy a car from a dealer, and he signs a declaration that it is free of outstanding finance THEN the finance company apparently cannot come after you.
What can I say: I bought my lovely Legacy in January slightly above Glass's "poor" trade-in price from just such a trader: no trade plates, no licence disc, just a FANTASTIC price. (And a mate with a petrol station and a debit card machine which made the "cash" bit much easier.) And the bits of string and tape holding it together are still holding it together and haven't yet revealed themselves...
Browse
I was told that I'd be prosecuted for taxing my car a day late a couple of years ago - a simple oversight on my part.
I paid it no attention at all, and never heard any more. It's a scare tactic, and typical of the "soft target" culture that emanates from the authorities these days. Hassle people who slip by a day (and gain nothing as a result), and do nothing about the difficult-to-trace hardcore who drive unregistered, untaxed, uninsured and unMOT'd every day of the week.
Jobsworth muppetry of the highest order, and not worth any fretting at all.
Cheers
DP