Raw Deal: Minor miracle? Classic car back on the road as registration hitch solved

Alan McPherson treasures his classic car but he was being driven to distraction trying to get it certified by the DVLA.

The retired bakery boss is the proud owner of a 1969 Morris Traveller that he likes to display at car shows around Scotland.

However, he ran into difficulties re-registering his ownership of the vehicle after the document for the vehicle went missing.

“I couldn’t get a replacement document as the VIN (vehicle identification number) for the car is required and I couldn’t locate it,” said McPherson, from Cullen, Moray. “I looked everywhere that I could think of and took it to an MOT garage to see if they could find it but they had no success either. As the car is over 50 years old and has had a lot of work done on it in its time, I suspected the VIN had been buried under layers of paint somewhere.

“I contacted DVLA by letters, online and email for 11 weeks asking for advice on how to resolve this issue but had no joy.

“The agency must have a note of the VIN as the car has been registered with them a number of times by various owners including myself but I just couldn’t get an answer.

“The only thing I was told was that I was not permitted to drive the vehicle on the road until the car is officially re-registered – but no one at the DVLA seemed to want to help me with it.”

McPherson, 76, bought the car in 2014 for £6,000 after spotting it for sale in Southampton. He had long been a fan of classic cars and travelled to the south coast of England to collect it.

“It had been stored in a shed for years and it needed quite a bit of work done on it,” he said. “For a start, this is one of the only vehicles that could fail an MOT for having woodworm as it has wooden strips on the exterior.

“But it had just 10,000 miles on the clock when I bought it and I knew it could be nicely restored.

“After it was all fixed up my wife and I took it on a holiday to the Yorkshire Dales and it proved to be a real head-turner.”

However, in March McPherson discovered that the registration documents were missing and he spent the next 11 weeks trying to get the car re-registered.

“They wouldn’t give me the VIN without filling in a form first, but I couldn’t submit the form without the VIN,” he said. “I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not having the car properly registered also means that I couldn’t sell it, should I ever want to.”

In frustration, he wrote to Raw Deal and we asked the DVLA to investigate. The good news is that the agency has now advised on the correct procedures and said that once McPherson had forwarded new forms and included a letter of explanation, they would clear up the matter.

DVLA said: “The best course of action for Mr McPherson and any other motorists who find themselves in a similar position is to download and complete a V62 application form which they should post to DVLA.

“Mr McPherson should also enclose a cover letter explaining the circumstances around why he has been unable to locate a VIN number. Upon receipt of Mr McPherson’s letter, DVLA will be happy to investigate.”

Macpherson thanked Raw Deal for stepping in and said he followed advice, has now had the car successfully re-registered and is looking forward to getting back behind the wheel this summer.

V62 forms are available from www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-a-vehicle-registration-certificate