A grieving Dundee woman has accused the DVLA of treating her with disdain, after they clamped, towed and then disposed of her car.
Sandra Laing’s Ford Fiesta sat unused for months as she offered critical care to her terminally-ill sister and she believed it was legally off the road.
When a mistake emerged she paid the DVLA the money it was due, only for the government agency to apparently overlook the payments and attempt to double charge her for back taxes.
She believes that “mistake” was responsible for the arrival of enforcement officers at her home in the city’s Kirkton area.
A short time after the demands for further payments, the 51-year-old woke to find a team of clampers uplifting her car, claiming it was untaxed and illegally parked.
The DVLA denied the vehicle had been targeted despite the timing and claimed it had been spotted as part of a routine patrol.
They told Miss Laing she would have to pay £420 to have it released from a DVLA impound yard in Edinburgh, and disposed of vehicle when she was unable to pay the hefty sum.
“I got up one morning to find them clamping my car but they just weren’t interested in my explanations,” she said.
“I’d paid all the back taxes I was due and I was taking steps to start using it again. I’d parked it up on a wide part of the pavement and thought this meant it was off-road.
“I know I may have made some mistakes but they just weren’t willing to listen to reason and I can’t help but feel that I was only on their radar because of their initial mistake.
“This followed hard on the heels of the deaths of my father, mother and then sister, so it’s been a difficult time,” Miss Laing said.
“The DVLA just wouldn’t listen and I think their behaviour has been atrocious. I’d urge everyone to make sure that they take their car off the road correctly, as this is what can happen if you don’t get it right.”
In a letter to Miss Laing, the DVLA said the law was “tightly drawn” and that “the agency does not have the discretion to decide which cases were accidental and which were deliberate”, adding that “the rules have to be applied in a consistent manner to maintain their effectiveness”.
A spokesman for the DVLA declined to comment on Miss Laing’s claims that it had attempted to double charge her for back taxes. He said only that the enforcement action taken against her had been “correct”, as the car had been untaxed and illegally parked on-road.
Vehicles seized by the DVLA are either sold via auction for on-the-road use, dismantled or scrapped, depending on their condition. A whopping 26,742 were disposed of in past 12 months.