Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

AIBU?

To be royally hacked off with bureaucracy in this country...

12 replies

Spillage21 · 09/06/2009 11:12

I forgot to tax may car, just forgot that's all, it's insured, serviced, and safe on the road. But this morning I'm clamped outside my house and have to pay £260 to have it taken off. I mention through gritted teeth that I'm a midwife on call and about to visit a client but all they say is they'll come and take it off when they can (and after I've paid the bill). Can't they just put a letter on it saying 'Pay up in 7 days or else...'?

For the pleasure of parking outside my house, we have to buy permits; the cost of the permits was doubled within the first year of it being introduced due to "administrative costs".

I had a £180 parking fine outside my hospital because the attendant didn't see my midwife permit, so I have the hassle of begging them to let me off.

And don't get me started on what all the local CCTVs are for when we've had several car break ins, thefts, and our bright orange campervan stolen.

Just wondered why I should bother continue to be a law abiding, community spirited person...

OP posts:

Report

smurfgirl · 09/06/2009 11:16

It is crap but I suppose that everyone without tax says they forget so its difficult for them to differentiate.

And if its not taxed, its not insured as far as I know...

Report

mayorquimby · 09/06/2009 11:17

yabu with regards to your car. you didn't tax it and left it on the road so it gets clamped till you pay.
i presume it's a public road which you are parking on so once again i'd say yabu. you're not paying for the pleasure of parking outside your house, your paying for the pleasure of parking on a public road.

yanbu wih regards getting a ticket in the wrong, and it is a pisser how many hoops they make you jump through when they are in the wrong.
ditto the break ins, they are a nightmare and it really can feel like no ones even bothered that it happened or trying to find out who did it.

Report

bumpsoon · 09/06/2009 11:22

Yanbu , unfortunately though ,most people who dont bother to tax their cars also dont bother with mots or insurance .I think it would be a fairer system if when caught ,if you can prove insurance and mot are valid then you should be given 24hrs to get tax and possibly a small fine to cover admin. the system now smacks of profiteering, as it is usually private companies who are clamping .

Report

HecatesTwopenceworth · 09/06/2009 11:24

re tax - your fault and you just have to suck it up, I'm afraid. There's no reason why you should get special treatment - everyone knows the rules. Put it in your diary for next year.

re permits - is there any way you can get together with the neighbours and protest?

re parking fine - seems their fault. If your sign was displayed clearly. I would imagine that an attendant at a hospital would know what to look for - it hadn't slipped out of sight or something, had it? I hope they listen and you get it waived.

re cctv - yup. seems pointless.

Report

lal123 · 09/06/2009 11:25

YABU - if your car is so important to your work then its doubly important that you don't forget to tax it. If its not taxed then your insurance is invalid.

Re continuing as a law abiding person - well one could be harsh and remind you that its illegal to have an uninsured, untaxed vehicle on the road.....

Report

Spillage21 · 09/06/2009 11:26

The car is insured (up to the eyeballs). What irritates me is that it's a very heavy-handed approach: a warning letter and period of grace to sort it out is hardly going to make much difference.

I don't actually disagree with the permits, it was a nightmare to park as we live 2 mins from the station, but the council doubled it and we have no way of fighting against it. We just have to lump it.

OP posts:

Report

Overmydeadbody · 09/06/2009 11:27

YABU with regards to car tax. Your fault. You shouldn't have forgotten.

You think the beaurocracy in this country is bad? We are far luckier than a lot of citizens of other countries that's for sure.

Report

Itsjustafleshwound · 09/06/2009 11:30

YABU - you should have received a notice that the tax needed to be renewed and you can do it online ...

Report

VinegarTits · 09/06/2009 11:34

You should have got a letter from dvla about a month before your tax was due to remind you it was due

why should they then send out more letters to people who still forget to buy road tax? YABU, the fact you have insurance and mot is not an excuse. The reason they clamped down on road tax was because of people like you always forgetting to buy it! they now have a no tolerance rule, you must have seen the adverts, i would say your were lucky to just get clamped, they would have been well within the law to tow your car away and crush it

Report

Spillage21 · 09/06/2009 11:36

DVLA didn't send me a reminder (I only bought the car three weeks ago). Apparently this has happened to a lot of other people, I usually rely on the reminder letter (like most people I think).

OP posts:

Report

VinegarTits · 09/06/2009 11:39

Well if you bought the car 3 weeks ago you must have know the tax was due, sorry it not an excuse and the dvla will not have know this either so you cant blame them, you only have yourself to blame i am afraid

Report

Spillage21 · 09/06/2009 11:41

I just forgot to pay my car tax (9 days late) and have never forgotten before in 20 odd years of driving. I don't want to lay out my personal woes on MN to prove that taxing car was low on my list - I'm only human, I forgot. My point is it all feels a bit heavy handed.