The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman recently conducted two investigations into the DVLA's communication with campervan owners, around registering a converted van as a campervan.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman recently conducted two investigations into the DVLA’s communication with campervan owners, around registering a converted van as a campervan.
The DVLA’s actions prompted two complaints to the ombudsman after vehicle owners followed out-of-date information on the DVLA website, resulting in their registration applications being rejected. One complainant, Mrs Maddy Muffett, said that she spent a year building a campervan to comply with the DVLA website’s criteria, but was repeatedly met with application rejections.
“It made it almost impossible for us to insure,” she said. “They refused to tell us what we could do to make our application succeed… One of the reasons we persevered with our complaints is for all the other people building their own campervans who will be impacted by this.”
The ombudsman found that not communicating about a significant change to its processes in a clear and timely way was maladministration on the part of DVLA. It also found that the DVLA’s lack of transparency regarding what’s required to register a vehicle as a campervan was maladministration. It recommended the DVLA apologise to the complainants, offer a payment of £100 each, create an action plan as to how it will ensure applicants have sufficient information, and provide the ombudsman with details about the process.
Technical Manager Ian Hewlett said: “If Club members with campervans have been impacted by a similar situation, we would encourage them to contact the ombudsman with evidence to seek support.”
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