DVLA gave out wrong vehicle owner details

[Blunders]

They say mine is a unique case, I sold my car, informed DVLA then about two weeks later my previous car was involved in a traffic offence, the new owner had waited on yellow hatchings caught on camera and I'm fined 60 pounds, Ealing Council requested the owner from DVLA and they gave them my details, Ealing Council were not approachable and unresponsive to my letters, there then began 13 months of hell, between myself, Ealing Council and Northampton Court, culminating in a fine raised to 202 Pounds and Bailiffs threat, and I am innocent, finally the case was dropped against me, I have been worried stressed and had the feeling of anxiety, it's cost me about 50 pounds so far in costs of emails, letters, phone calls etc, I complained in step 1 and 2 to DVLA on the grounds of gross administrative negligence, but they deny any wrong doing, simply pointing out that it takes a number of days for registration info to get changed, and the info they gave out was correct at the time of asking, but this is not right, I'm not losing out here, I'm claiming losses plus 250 for stress etc. What do I do now?

[dogtired]

Re: DVLA gave out wrong vehicle owner details

A similar thing happened to us.
We sold a van, sent off the form but heard nothing.
Just over two weeks later we had a knock on the door, two big burly policemen !
The van had been used in a ram raid!
Luckily, we had insisted on giving the buyer a receipt and kept a copy the buyer had signed it as well so they went away.
Hope that some one more knowledgeable can answer your question.
And Welcome to LB.

[charitynjw]

Re: DVLA gave out wrong vehicle owner details

Hi Blunders & welcome to LB

IMHO

To sue under the tort of negligence, you would need to
1/ Establish that a duty of care was owed to you by a party, &
2/ The duty was breached by that party, &
3/ Damages as a consequence of that breach.

Who would you sue?
DVLA have given a plausible explanation regarding their records.
Ealing have followed usual procedures in obtaining the details from DVLA.

So, imho, both have a reason defence re duty of care.

Also, duty of care notwithstanding, I'm not sure whether you can claim for stress-related injury; nervous shock cases usually concern being involved in, or witnessing, horrific incidents (ie Hillsborough).

I'll give [MENTION=77627]Openlaw15[/MENTION] a nudge.

[des8]

Re: DVLA gave out wrong vehicle owner details

Hi and welcome
First things first. before escalating complaint have you exhausted their complaints procedure through to your MP?
https://www.gov.uk/government/organi...ints-procedure

[Openlaw15]

Re: DVLA gave out wrong vehicle owner details

Hi Blunders & welcome to LB

IMHO

To sue under the tort of negligence, you would need to
1/ Establish that a duty of care was owed to you by a party, &
2/ The duty was breached by that party, &
3/ Damages as a consequence of that breach.

Who would you sue?
DVLA have given a plausible explanation regarding their records.
Ealing have followed usual procedures in obtaining the details from DVLA.

So, imho, both have a reason defence re duty of care.

Also, duty of care notwithstanding, I'm not sure whether you can claim for stress-related injury; nervous shock cases usually concern being involved in, or witnessing, horrific incidents (ie Hillsborough).

I'll give @Openlaw15 a nudge.

As Charity succinctly put it, proving negligence is not easy and even if you could they're (DVLA) only liable generally for actual losses. Psych injury is a difficult claim by itself owing to the strict tests the courts use. For one you require a registered medical condition such as a psych injury preferably from a consultant psych, or alternatively perhaps a long record of medical history from your GP's notes.

[Openlaw15]

Re: DVLA gave out wrong vehicle owner details

Hi and welcome
First things first. before escalating complaint have you exhausted their complaints procedure through to your MP?
https://www.gov.uk/government/organi...ints-procedure

As Desm indicates, you should consider the Parl. Ombudsman route albeit DLVA need to have investigated the claim with its final decision before raising it with said Ombudsman. For formality it needs to go through your MP. You do not need to convince the MP, it's just normal protocol. The problem with the Ombudsman route is that any findings by them are not likely substantive as per a court But you do not have the further anxiety of losing a difficult case (negligence/ tort/ psych injury, and or a costs order against you; and in any event, you'll have done something constructive about the problem. I believe the Parl. Ombudsman will rule in your favour and you'll likely to be reimbursed your £300 losses and some discretionary payments up to a few hundred pounds. A claim for 250 for stress, the Parl. Ombudsman may consider some of it but not all from its discretionary payment allowance. The Parl. Ombud. route could take up to 9 months depending on the back-log they have in their system.

[Blunders]

Re: DVLA gave out wrong vehicle owner details

Thanks

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for your advice

[Blunders]

Re: DVLA gave out wrong vehicle owner details

Dear CharityNJW,

How can you say DVLA gave a plausible explanation? Some 10-12 days had passed since the actual date of my sale of car, slow recording or giving out of correct information is no excuse, and in any case, (though I'm not raising this following bit with DVLA), is you have to ask yourself, if this Highways government agency is so slow to give out correct information, then at the very least, they (DVLA) should have sent out the correct (adjusted) new details of the rightful owner to Ealing Council, as soon as they realised their error, but they did not, further more on pressing Ealing Council to contact DVLA themselves some weeks later, they told me DVLA only allow them access to details to a registration once and they cannot apply again......well I'm sorry but, RUBBISH, did you know surprise surprise DVLA collect fine monies from all Highway fines accross the country!