The Ford Mondeo that doesn't exist

A SOUTHPORT motorist who was hoping to get into gear for the New Year has been told he can't - because the DVLA says his car doesn't exist.

Birkdale resident Howard Skelton has been trying to register a vehicle he bought from his son but so far his efforts have failed, because the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency, responsible for keeping track of the country's cars, have issued a Certificate of Destruction by mistake.

“It's incredibly frustrating when you try to do something by the book and get embroiled in this sort of nightmare,” he told Life On Cars.

“It should not be up to me to sort out their inefficiency. Hopefully they will see sense soon.”

Mr Skelton wanted to register the Ford Mondeo as his own but when he contacted the agency, based in Swansea, he was told the car no longer existed because it had been issued with a Certificate of Destruction, meaning it cannot be legally driven on the road.

He said that the DVLA have instructed him to take the car to one of its assessment centres, based in Preston, to rectify the mistake, but due to the car no longer being officially recognised it would be illegal to drive it there.

Mr Skelton has since got in touch with Southport MP and Life On Cars reader John Pugh to take the case further, who described the DVLA's stance on the issue as “Kafkaesque bureaucracy”.

“We wrote several letters on Mr Skelton's behalf to try and sort the situation out. We were told that Certificates of Destruction are issued by Authorised Treatment Facilities, and that the error was probably down to mistaken paperwork. Amazingly the DVLA showed no interest in getting to the bottom of what had happened,” he said.

“This exposes shocking bureaucracy, and a complete absence of common sense at the heart of this department. That the certificate had clearly been issued in error, yet expect a pensioner to have a car towed to Preston to verify its existence is beyond crazy. There is also a complete lack of communication between bodies that is inexcusable,” he said.

The DVLA responded by saying it could not it could not comment on individual cases, but a spokesman for the organisation did say:

“A Certificate of Destruction (CoD) is issued when a vehicle is presented to an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) for destruction. It is proof that the vehicle has, or will be, destroyed to strict environmental standards and it is a legal requirement that once a CoD has been issued no further changes of keeper can be recorded.

"In rare cases where a CoD may have been issued in error, DVLA will investigate further. In exceptional circumstances we will allow the car to be taxed to enable the car to be driven for an inspection. If the inspection is satisfactory, a V5C can then be issued.”

Have you had any motoring mishaps? Share your motoring stories with me by emailing david.simister@champnews.com