Following an article from Commercial Motor online news, C&C Insurance Brokers are warning companies to double-check that they are using the official – https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/driver-and-vehicle-licensing-agency DVLA website and to beware of third-party driving licence renewal sites after the boss of a haulage firm was duped into paying more than he needed to for a licence renewal.
The MD of a West Country haulier, who wishes to remain anonymous, renewed his HGV licence through what he believed to be the official sire but it wasn’t! – https://www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence Having spent 15 minutes filling out all the required information (including passport and National Insurance numbers), his licence duly arrived a week later. Note in the top right hand corner – On Behalf of DVLA
However, when he checked his credit card statement he found he had been charged £70 rather than the standard £20. When he challenged the charge with the DVLA, he was informed that he had inadvertently used a third-party website, not its official one, and no refund would therefore be issued.
It isn’t illegal for third-party websites to offer such a service, nor are they hard to find –
driving licenceapply.co.uk, drivinglicence-gov.co.uk, dvlalicensing.co.uk, drivinglicences.uk.com and dvla-driving-licence.co.uk.
This was reiterated by a spokesman at the DVLA who, while confirming the agency takes lots of phone calls from disgruntled people claiming they have been overcharged, said:
“The Office of Fair Trading has ruled that websites that charge additional fees and services are not acting illegally.”
The police’s Action Fraud team also confirmed that it would act on the collection of personal data only if an identity fraud had occurred as a consequence.
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