LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Over the past few weeks we’ve received quite a flurry of queries, reaction, interesting snippets from PHTM readers – which is encouraging, as it means that this steadfast publication is still both gaining new followers and retaining faithful readers from many years back. We wanted to pass on a couple of these items that we thought might be of interest and import; the first is from a licence holder in Edinburgh, who believed his story will assist many licensed vehicle owners across the country.
IMPORTANT RE-CLASSIFICATION
Grieg Cockburn, owner of Central Taxis Edinburgh, got in touch about his Mercedes Vito Taxi with the information that his vehi- cle had been re-classified by the DVLA, thus taking him out of the luxury car tax bracket and saving him a lot of money. Here is his story: “My taxi model, as it appears on the V5C, is a ‘VITO TAXI+ COMPACT 114CDI AUTO’, manufactured in 2018 with first registration in April 2019. The taxi conversion took place after manufacture by Mercedes-Benz and before first registration and sale by a com- pany called ‘Penso Consulting Ltd’.
“I purchased my new vehicle from the Rowanza Mercedes-Benz Dealership, War- rington in April 2019. I paid £43,000. The list price that was supplied to the DVLA was £48,762. This price included the cost of mobility modifications.
“My initial concerns after purchase were reinforced when I stumbled across a 2017 DVLA webinar transcript, confirming that such mobility modifications should not be included for the purposes of calculating VED and ‘Luxury Vehicle’ charges. “Mercedes-Benz has now segregated the
the segregated costs to the DVLA. As a result, many thousands of owners across the UK will be eligible to challenge the tax sta- tus of their vehicles. Any successful challenge will represent a £1,625.00 saving over a five-year period: a cost of £1.6m per 1,000 vehicles to the Treasury; a truly multi- million pound win for the UK taxi trade.
mobility costs from the original list price provided to the DVLA, as a result of sus- tained pressure from myself and the DVLA over a period exceeding a year. The vehi- cle’s list price has now been revised to £38,526 - reflecting a £10,236 cost of mobil- ity modifications. This obviously took my vehicle under the £40,000 threshold for luxury car tax payments. I have now been refunded all excess payments and have been issued with my new V5C confirming the changes.
“I do believe this to be a rather profound development. Numerous people from within the taxi trade have challenged this situation in the past and failed. To my knowledge, this is the first time Mercedes-Benz has released
“This situation may well apply to certain Ford Procab owners who are paying luxury vehicle tax on their taxi; however it is unlike- ly to affect the TXE/TX5 vehicles, as they are purpose built and technically have no ‘modifications’.
“Mercedes-Benz has released an email address for enquiries:
mbvan.homologation@daimler.com
“I believe this is a ground-breaking change of position from the DVLA as a direct result of my year-plus battle, and I wanted to pass on this information to as many people in the industry as possible.”
Mr Cockburn came to the right place… Thanks again to Greig of Central Taxis Edin- burgh.
THE SCAMMERS ARE AT IT AGAIN!
We spoke recently to taxi driver Spencer Sands, whose company White Knight Cars is based in Spalding, Lincolnshire. He wanted us to pass on his rather unpleasant (and not to be repeated, by him anyway) experience with a parcel delivery. It was posted on PHTM Facebook as well.
“On the 5th September I received a phone call out of the blue from a Mr Hill, looking for me to pick up a package in Flitwick and Bedford and take it back to the White Hart in Boston.
“I quoted the guy and within five minutes he rang back and accepted the quotation and asked me to go straight away. Halfway down he rang to explain that he tried to pay for the product over the phone but the sup- plier had an internet issue so could I front £40 and he would reimburse me that as well.
80
worry, just meet me at the hotel and I’ll pay.’ When I got to the hotel I couldn’t find the guy, so tried to ring and text with no answer. At that point I put two and two together and realised that I had been scammed, and the guy I actually gave the money to at Flitwick was the guy I was talking to all along.
“But as I got nearer the price went up to £60 + VAT and as I was very close to the address at Flitwick, I carried on – and paid the guy the £70 and he gave me a disc in an envelope with a receipt. The second pickup was no pickup as the disc had already been sent by a courier.
“I then rank the guy and he said, ‘Don’t
“I wanted to pass this experience on as a warning, in case any PHTM readers have not come across this situation before.” We know that parcel delivery scams have been going on for decades; however we wanted to pass this on because there could well be drivers out there who, in the absence of their usual volume of fares in these uncer- tain times, would take on these sorts of jobs and get caught out.”
Stay safe – and savvy! OCTOBER 2020
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
