Road tax issue

Dear Mr Canning,

Please see attached acknowledgement letter.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Jackie Manser-Thomas

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Dear Mr Canning

Thank you for your e-Mail dated 27 April 2009 addressed to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Swansea, in which you have made a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). I am replying as Head of Customer Services and Compliance.

You asked:

+AJM-How many times have people complained that the DVLA have lost their letters stating that they are going to keep their cars off the public road therefore there no need to buy road tax.+AJQ [sic]

When dealing with your request we have taken your reference to +AJM-they are going to keep their cars off the public road+AJQ to mean registered vehicle keepers who have notified DVLA and made a Statutory Off Road (SORN) declaration.

Whilst DVLA does hold statistical information of the number of formal complaints received, we do not hold the statistical data in the specific level of detail, which you have requested.

In order to determine whether the information you have requested is held, would involve the manual interrogation of each individual complaint case to establish the reason of the complaint. This would require extensive work for members of staff and would divert resource from our core business. DVLA has no obligation under Section 12 of the FOIA to supply information, which would cost more than +AKM-600 to collate or one person spending 3.5 days (or 24 hours) costed at +AKM-25 per hour. This costing is set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriated Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.

Most documents supplied by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency will have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown copyright on the Office of Public Sector Information website at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm

If you are unhappy with the way the Agency has handled your request, you may ask for an internal review. You should contact the Local Services Network and Enforcement Directorate Freedom of Information Champion, DVLA, +IBg-A+IBk Block, Longview Road, Morriston, Swansea, SA6 7JL.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Further guidance of DfT complaints procedures are detailed in Annex A.

Yours sincerely

{sent unsigned via e-mail}

Steve Alexander
Head of Customer Services and Compliance

Annex A

Your right to complain to DVLA and the Information Commissioner

You have the right to complain about the way in which your request for information was handled and/or about the decision not to disclose all or part of the information requested. In addition a complaint can be made that DVLA has not complied with its FOI publication scheme.

Your complaint will be acknowledged and you will be advised of a target date by which to expect a response. Initially your complaint will be re-considered by the official who dealt with your request for information. If, after careful consideration, that official decides that his/her decision was correct, your complaint will automatically be referred to a senior independent official who will conduct a further review. You will be advised of the outcome of your complaint and if a decision is taken to disclose information originally withheld this will be done as soon as possible.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner+IBk-s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

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