www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/8953140/1200-jobs-at-risk-as-39-DVLA-centres-may-close.html
Swansea will be the centre of the world with no satellites.
OK more can be done by internet etc but when you have a problem it is always better face-to-face.
Another nail in the coffin of customer service - next they will offshore matters to Phillipines / India / South Africa - then what?
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I've used LVLOs quite often, never been disappointed in the excellent service and knowledge of the staff. The local one in Bangor is pretty good, they've just moved from an out of town location, ideally a few minutes off the A55 into a town centre office - no doubt cheaper, less parking and harder to get to.
Shame.
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I have used Wimbledon office once when needing to get a new number plate issued
They were first class.
Last edited by: henry k on Tue 13 Dec 11 at 20:11
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>> I have used Wimbledon office once when needing to get a new number plate issued
>> They were first class.
>>
There were an awful lot of public there wanting services.
I suspect there were a lot of non run of the mill requirements like mine, people wanting immediate actions and not wanting docs lost in the post.
I too was previously not aware of the office and the pnly time I have usedi it.
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Excuse my ignorance, but what can a regional office do that you can't (or won't soon) by able to do over the phone or via the internet?
It's a shame for the decent folk who lose their jobs, but I just can't see the point of these regional offices in this day and age.
Or is there something I'm missing here?
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>> Excuse my ignorance, but what can a regional office do that you can't (or won't
>> soon) by able to do over the phone or via the internet?
The two times we've been there have been around sorting out changes of registration (cars losing or acquiring the family cherished plate). Either they'll find another way of doing this or appoint agents, perhaps form amongst the ranks of MoT garages.
Their other value is around sorting the unusual stuff that doesn't fit the 'SoP' template currently fashionable for redesigning government office processes.
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In the last 15 years I've used the Manchester office once. And the Edinburgh one once.
Maybe the use of the regional offices has plummeted with the advent of the Internet services. Lots on here even avoid post offices to tax cars nowadays.
I wonder if there is any scope to reduce the size of the regional offices instead of getting rid of them? As said above, they can be very useful to deal with more tricky things face to face.
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>> Lots on here even avoid post offices to tax cars nowadays
I tax my car at the post office for two reasons - 1, because I don't always have enough in the bank a week before the due date to do it online, and 2, because I like to have the local stamp on the disc. It matches the dealer logos on the numberplates and the stamps in the service book, which may make it a little more saleable when the time comes.
I think I'll still do it in person even when I can afford not to.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Tue 13 Dec 11 at 23:04
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Plus it helps your local Post Office stay open.
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>> Plus it helps your local Post Office stay open.
We had three nearby. One not so busy but more convenient, parking outside on street, great owners etc..... closed a while back in the last cut backs. They didn't do tax disks - only one of the three does.
Thin end of the wedge?
And the post box outside it has now been removed too! Apparently too many in the area.
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I like to have the local stamp on the disc.
>> It matches the dealer logos on the numberplates and the stamps in the service book,
>> which may make it a little more saleable when the time comes.
>>
Eh? What's that all about?
1. Surely any sane person keeps the disc and cashes it in when they sell the car.
2. Who on earth pays more for a car where the tax was bought from a local Post Office?? I only look at the date!
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>> I like to have the local stamp on the disc.
>> >> It matches the dealer logos on the numberplates and the stamps in the service
>> book,
Never thought of that but do miss the issuing office stamp as a clue to a car's 'home'.
Quite common to be on holiday and spot a car with a Northants registration. The tax disc would help, along with stickers differentiate those really from near home and 'exports' or the multitude of Merc and VW fleet/demo cars first registered through Northants LVLO.
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This thread highlights our view on government expenditure On one hand we all seem to believe that the government massively overspends and could easily reduce cost by cutting unnecessary bureaucracy. On the other hand as soon as the government makes a perfectly modest proposal which in all honesty barely affect anyone that much there is much wringing of hands and its another nail in the coffin.
Not sure how we will cope when the real cuts arrive
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Tue 13 Dec 11 at 23:17
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As of now you're quite right CG it affects barely anyone. Equally, as motorists, an issue could arise tomorrow which might lead anyone of us to seek the advice of the DVLA regional office. The same applies to benefits, tax, courts, tribunals or whatever.
If YOU are seriously affected by an official decision do you want to be able to discuss that with someone you can meet face to face with real experience of real problems or with somebody in another place reading a script from a screen.
So are local offices a luxury we can no longer afford?
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So are local offices a luxury we can no longer afford?
Yes
If something has got to go the DVLA offices won't be missed by many.
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Can they not scale back and have some local presence? Indeed take this further and have maybe someone in major post offices. So more local presence?
I do wonder what the staff do with the Internet and phone operations. Frontline staff in the DVLA regional offices no doubt are busy. But there's a lot more there than the frontline staff.
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If they abolished vehicle licence duty and increased fuel tax, as has been repeatedly urged over decades, they could close most of the Swansea DVLA too.
I don't think the government knows what cuts are. They need to think big and cut out whole unnecessary departments, not just fiddle at the edges.
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I can't say I'll miss it, until I saw the headline I never even knew there where any regional offices at all.
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>> I can't say I'll miss it, until I saw the headline I never even knew
>> there where any regional offices at all.
>>
Same here, never used one in 26 years of tax disc buying.
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>> If they abolished vehicle licence duty and increased fuel tax, as has been repeatedly urged over decades, they could close most of the Swansea DVLA too.
>>
No chance. Too big a ££££ earner for the government.
If you up the fuel cost you will create a new chain of "replacement fuel tank" outfits :-)
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We tried to use the Sheffield office a few months ago.
(a) Very limited parking.
(b) The queue was out of the door.
(c) We left and sorted out our query directly with DVLC, Swansea who were very helpful.
Last edited by: Roger on Wed 14 Dec 11 at 09:29
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>>>Same here, never used one in 26 years of tax disc buying.
Not exactly life changing for me if we lose them but I have been into and phoned the Peterborough office about a dozen times over the past 25yrs. Very helpful for non-standard stuff. Always busy (and smelly!).
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>> If they abolished vehicle licence duty and increased fuel tax, as has been repeatedly urged
>> over decades, they could close most of the Swansea DVLA too.
Not sure that adds up. Vehicles and drivers would still need to be registered/licensed, Collecting MVL duty is almost an add on.
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>> >> If they abolished vehicle licence duty and increased fuel tax, as has been repeatedly
>> urged
>> >> over decades, they could close most of the Swansea DVLA too.
>>
>> Not sure that adds up. Vehicles and drivers would still need to be registered/licensed, Collecting
>> MVL duty is almost an add on.
There is no way you abolish a tax. Thats two you can increase then, not just one.
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...Vehicles and drivers would still need to be registered/licensed, Collecting MVL duty is almost an add on...
Agreed.
I assume those in favour of abolishing the tax disc accept a register of vehicles would still need to be kept.
Hard to judge the cost of that, but I reckon it wouldn't be far short of what we have now.
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The government currently rakes in about £5.5 billion per annum in ved. Somehow, I doubt it costs that much to run the DVLA.
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Oh yes, and before I forget, don't the DVLA also charge for issuing/replacing driving licences and vehicle registrations?
In 2009-2010 the DVLA made £694 million quid, versus expenditure of £542 million.
That income is from fees for driver licensing, car registration, sales of personalised registrations and a per transaction fee paid by the Department for Transport for each tax disc issued.
So although the case might be argued that we don't need to have local DVLA offices (and I would certainly agree with that), it seems a £28 million cost saving is neither here nor there. Unless sales of personalised regs have dropped through the floor, leaving the DVLA in the doo doo?
Last edited by: oilburner on Wed 14 Dec 11 at 10:27
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...The government currently rakes in about £5.5 billion per annum in ved. Somehow, I doubt it costs that much to run the DVLA...
Missing the point.
We need to know the current cost of running the DVLA compared to the cost of running a DVLA - or a driver/vehicle registration operation - which collected no money.
The amount it currently collects is irrelevant.
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Aha - see my other post above! :) I don't have the breakdown on how much of that income is from the DfT from VED transaction fees, but then quite a lot of the expenditure will be from the physical printing of the discs and postage.
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Load£££'s RFL on Petrol /Diesel. - Big users will pay more, low mileage less.
Still have a RFL to ensure registration / mot etc but for a modest charge - say £20 / year. The penalties for not registering motors / no MoT etc with BIG fines £100/£200.
The bulk of the money is collected easily via Esso/Shell etc.
The nominal RFL is almost self policing - who would avoid a £20 RFL when the penalty is £200.
No real benefit to cheaters and easily collected tax - less admin - everyone wins!
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Isn't vehicle registration somehow linked to insurance in some countries?
Sounds a good plan, given the number of selfish swine who choose to drive without insurance.
At the very least, mandatory display of a valid insurance 'disc' might lead to better enforcement.
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>> Load£££'s RFL on Petrol /Diesel. - Big users will pay more, low mileage less.
>>
>> Still have a RFL to ensure registration / mot etc but for a modest charge
>> - say £20 / year.
>> No real benefit to cheaters and easily collected tax - less admin - everyone wins!
>>
You mean you can't see what would happen next? The "Modest £20 charge" would gradually increase to the same level as the VED is now, "For environmental reasons", as successive governments realise there is still a cash cow to be milked to death. And the increase in fuel to make up for the original shortfall from VED would of course never be reduced.
Be careful what you wish for, it might no be what you want.
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Years ago, I used the Glasgow office to get a registration back. Policy had changed with regard to imports and I was subsequently able to use it to my advantage. (A tax exempt 'T' plate would have forever been stopped, likewise a non reflective numberplate).
A bit more recently, I used the North London office as I'd bought a car with a very tatty V5 predecessor, got it MOTed, but wanted to tax it - but the vehicle class needed changing (related to tax exemption).
Last visit was the Luton office who replaced the tax disc that had fallen off my vintage car.
Can't fault the service I got from the local offices.
More recently, I needed to get a chassis number corrected on a V5 relating to an old car. Provided the proof and DVLC took about four months to reply to my letter. I'm not actually complaining since I got the right outcome but a dealer would not have been happy.
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It seems to me to be a bit like the recent Coastguard re-structuring; no-one disputed that it was necessary but naturally there were strong local objections to closures.
As mentioned above, much more can be done on-line these days; another job that could easily be re-assigned is inspections for SVA and the like, it would make better sense to transfer this to VOSA at one of their testing centres.
Location will count too; have a look at the list and you'll see many offices within 40 miles of each other; Swansea/Cardiff, Bournemouth/Portsmouth to name but two which could be cut down to one office serving a larger area.
I do agree that the service from both DVLA and local offices seems to be first-class, which since it's the exception rather than the rule in government departments makes it a bit of a tragedy that it should suffer cutbacks.
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>> It seems to me to be a bit like the recent Coastguard re-structuring; no-one disputed
>> that it was necessary but naturally there were strong local objections to closures.
>>
Fire Brigade
Spent umpteen canteen millions on a super duper centralised 999 system that failed - another Govt IT Project gone wrong. We will still be paying rent for some sites for up to 30 years.
In Scotland they proposed 2 or 3 x 999 centres for the whole country.
If you are on fire/need an ambulance and live in NEWTOWN/Newton there are about 100 all over the place.
Road accident outside my house - called 999 got a Glasgow call centre - nearest " landmark" Salmon Inn X roads Laurieston / Polmont road A803 took him 5 mins to find - then despatch an ambulance.
Last week a break in at a neighbour's home had the police there in 3 minutes - the difference was local knowledge.
Coastguard Service - try explaining where you are on a coast line/ off shore in the Moray Firth to someone in Glasgow.
NHS Direct .............well not so good as the GP sitting in front of you
DVLA - face to face works
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>>
>> DVLA - face to face works
>>
Whilst I agree with a lot of your examples, I'd also suggest that in DVLA's case we're not talking about lives at risk.
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39 Regional DVLA Offices to close 1,000+jobs 2go - R.P.
