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3:15 pm = I bought a car from private seller
3:37 pm = I immediately paid tax at the post office which was at 15 mins walking distance.
3:36 pm = Car clamp time.
3:55 pm = I returned back to car after paying tax and see that it is clamped.
Next day around 11 am = Car clamp removed 2 hours after paying 100 pounds.
My Story:
I bought a car from a private seller for 700 pounds. I immediately tried to pay tax online. DVLA refused online tax payment giving a message that they cannot verify my insurance details (obviously because I just bought insurance minutes before and online system takes at-least one day to update).
Car tax was expired as the car was at seller's private land and he was planning to sell it.
I did not drive the car as it was not taxed. I immediately walked to the post office to pay tax (post office was 15 mins walk). I paid tax and returned back to the car and see that it is clamped. I made dozens of calls and each time it is going to answering machine that there are 15+ people in the queue and leave a message with my phone number, car registration number, etc and they will call me back. I did not receive any call back. After many attempts, I finally got connected at 4:40 pm, they said they don't see my tax details online and post office payment record can take up to 5 days to reach their database. I insisted a lot that I have all the evidence that I just bought it and tax receipt, etc. They said, they can only remove clamp if I pay 100 pounds + car tax again (as their system does not see post office tax payment). They also said that clamp cannot be removed today as they will close soon and I have to wait until tomorrow.
Seller did not take responsibility for clamp as he sold it. Car was outside seller place and I was very far from home. I spent more money to reach home without car.
The same day I also did many calls to DVLA and explained the situation but they keep on repeating "Our system shows car is not taxed, so I must pay 100 pounds + tax again". Next day early morning, I again called DVLA and somehow they check post office record and confirmed that yes tax is paid.
Now DVLA said, post office tax receipt time is 3:37 pm and clamp time is 3:36 pm. Since it was clamped 1 min before tax receipt, I must pay 100 pounds to remove clamp. I argued a lot that post office was 15 minutes walk and car is not small enough that I put it in my jeans pocket until payment is done at post office. But she was not listening and was trained to repeat just one sentence that "car was clamped 1 minute before tax so I must pay 100 pounds to remove clamp".
With great frustration and anger, I finally paid 100 pounds over the phone to clamping company. I went again to seller place and 2 hours after that car clamp was removed and I brought car.
I also realized that 4 different companies were involved in this entire process (1) Post Office to pay tax, (2) DVLA, (3) Vehicle Pound that manages payments for clamp release, and (4) a different company that put/remove clamp for vehicle pound. Strangely, they all don't share data with each other in real-time. When I paid 100 pounds to vehicle pound, I asked to remove clamp immediately but they said, they cannot because they contracted clamping thing to another company and they can take up to the entire day to remove the clamp. But luckily clamp was removed after 2 hours in my case.
I lost 100 pounds but sharing my story so that people are aware of the crappy DVLA system.
3:37 pm = I immediately paid tax at the post office which was at 15 mins walking distance.
3:36 pm = Car clamp time.
3:55 pm = I returned back to car after paying tax and see that it is clamped.
Next day around 11 am = Car clamp removed 2 hours after paying 100 pounds.
My Story:
I bought a car from a private seller for 700 pounds. I immediately tried to pay tax online. DVLA refused online tax payment giving a message that they cannot verify my insurance details (obviously because I just bought insurance minutes before and online system takes at-least one day to update).
Car tax was expired as the car was at seller's private land and he was planning to sell it.
I did not drive the car as it was not taxed. I immediately walked to the post office to pay tax (post office was 15 mins walk). I paid tax and returned back to the car and see that it is clamped. I made dozens of calls and each time it is going to answering machine that there are 15+ people in the queue and leave a message with my phone number, car registration number, etc and they will call me back. I did not receive any call back. After many attempts, I finally got connected at 4:40 pm, they said they don't see my tax details online and post office payment record can take up to 5 days to reach their database. I insisted a lot that I have all the evidence that I just bought it and tax receipt, etc. They said, they can only remove clamp if I pay 100 pounds + car tax again (as their system does not see post office tax payment). They also said that clamp cannot be removed today as they will close soon and I have to wait until tomorrow.
Seller did not take responsibility for clamp as he sold it. Car was outside seller place and I was very far from home. I spent more money to reach home without car.
The same day I also did many calls to DVLA and explained the situation but they keep on repeating "Our system shows car is not taxed, so I must pay 100 pounds + tax again". Next day early morning, I again called DVLA and somehow they check post office record and confirmed that yes tax is paid.
Now DVLA said, post office tax receipt time is 3:37 pm and clamp time is 3:36 pm. Since it was clamped 1 min before tax receipt, I must pay 100 pounds to remove clamp. I argued a lot that post office was 15 minutes walk and car is not small enough that I put it in my jeans pocket until payment is done at post office. But she was not listening and was trained to repeat just one sentence that "car was clamped 1 minute before tax so I must pay 100 pounds to remove clamp".
With great frustration and anger, I finally paid 100 pounds over the phone to clamping company. I went again to seller place and 2 hours after that car clamp was removed and I brought car.
I also realized that 4 different companies were involved in this entire process (1) Post Office to pay tax, (2) DVLA, (3) Vehicle Pound that manages payments for clamp release, and (4) a different company that put/remove clamp for vehicle pound. Strangely, they all don't share data with each other in real-time. When I paid 100 pounds to vehicle pound, I asked to remove clamp immediately but they said, they cannot because they contracted clamping thing to another company and they can take up to the entire day to remove the clamp. But luckily clamp was removed after 2 hours in my case.
I lost 100 pounds but sharing my story so that people are aware of the crappy DVLA system.
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