DVLA - Keepers change

Another random decision from the PCN tribunal register

This hearing was a question of the balancing of evidence. Mr Barsenbach got off to a good start with a name and address of a buyer but had he sold it for cash to a man in the pub and not taken a name and address, or been given a false one, that does not make him liable for penalties that he did not incur. He could probably also demonstrate that he had a refund of road fund and stopped the insurance and he may have had a capital receipt into his bank account. All those things go to show who the keeper was at the relevant time.

What isn't the case is that the records held by DVLA are perfect and can be 100% relied upon by a council, or their agents, as the gospel truth. Ownerhip / keepership is a question of fact. It looks like Barnet Council tried to insist upon certain documents, which may or may not have been in the possession of the seller, or even not existed, and they have been gently corrected by the Adjudicator on this point.

Mr Mustard thinks that outsourcing and working to a price allied with trying to make a profit leads to staff who only do the same task repetitively and quite simply don't have a broad enough range of knowledge and possibly not all that much interest in the professional detail.

If Barnet Council give you trouble and try to make you jump through hoops when you have already given them adequate information, stand firm and let the adjudicator hear from you in person so he can tell that you are speaking the truth. Other evidence, like buying a new car at the same time may be of circumstantial assistance.

The end.