Valid Tax Disc? ‘Computer Says No…’

A Dagenham woman had a shock (according to the ‘Barking and Dagenham Post’ – story missing from the online issue) when she saw a car clamper applying a Denver Boot to her legitimately-taxed vehicle, because it had been flagged as ‘untaxed’ by the council’s pride and joy, the roving Smart car with camera:

Running outside in her pyjamas, the mother-of-one was confronted with the sight of a huge penalty notice slapped across her windscreen, and a man preparing to fit the clamps to the wheels...Holly pointed out that there was a tax disc valid until August 2008 clearly visible on her windscreen.

So, faced with the evidence before his own eyes, and knowing that computer systems aren’t reliable (particularly at the DVLA, home to more cock-ups than Cynthia Payne’s little Streatham semi-detached), obviously he apologised, reported the DVLA error to his control team and went on his way. Right?

Well, no:

She claims the clamper then placed a call to the DVLA - who told him to clamp it anyway...one hour and several phone calls later, Holly was finally able to get the clamps removed.

So, although they had no way of proving the disc was a forgery, they decided to err on the side of caution….for the council, not the resident!

Because the public who pay their wages are obviously all lying, cheating scum who can be fleeced at will…

A spokesman for the company (Tim Cowan of NCP Services) said:

We clamped this car by mistake. The database showed it as untaxed, and though it was showing a valid disc, we take into account that some tax dodgers display what appears to be a valid disc.'

Note: this council already has ‘form’ for this kind of attitude, the official adjudicator for the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service slamming them for behaviour that amounted to ‘misconduct’ recently.