Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Letters

Driven to despair by disarray at DVLA

Woman driving
Angela MacTavish has a suggestion for how the DVLA can clear its licence backlog. Photograph: Alamy

Last Thursday, I received an official brown envelope with a Swansea return address. Could this possibly be my renewed driving licence that I had requested (as directed) via DVLA Swansea and acknowledged by it on 22 June 2021?

It was instead the DVLA registration certificate for a car that I had bought three days earlier, swiftly noting its acquisition and documenting all amendments provided. I cannot understand how two departments of the DVLA could be operating with such different levels of efficiency.

This suggests that the agency requires a shake-up in management to ease the problems that motorists have been facing. Might a solution be the issue of a temporary paper document like a registration certificate for a named driver, until a huge effort is made to clear the licence backlog with the intervention of the ministry concerned?
Angela MacTavish
Bognor Regis, West Sussex

Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.