The Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) investigated two cases brought by individuals who converted vans into motorhomes and had multiple applications to change their vehicle’s logbook rejected by DVLA.

Having a vehicle registered as a “van with windows” rather than a motor caravan means the owner can face a number of issues including higher fees on toll roads, costlier MOTs, having to abide by different speed limits, and not being allowed on some camp sites.

The complainants said: “No one at the DVLA seems to be clear on what a campervan needs to look like. Their attitude was just ‘we make the rules, you abide by them’. One of the reasons we persevered with our complaint is because of that attitude and for all the other people building their own campervans who will be impacted by this.”

The Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) found that not communicating about this significant change in a clear and timely way was maladministration on the part of DVLA.

The DVLA was also found guilty of maladministration for not being transparent about what’s required to register a vehicle as a campervan and its processes.

The PHSO recommended that the DVLA:

• apologises to the complainants
• creates an action plan about how it intends to ensure that applicants have sufficiently detailed information available to them, before undertaking a conversion, about what elements constitute a vehicle of body type motor caravan
• provides the Ombudsman with details of how it intends to make clear to customers the process involved in determining a body type and, in particular, how they – assign an application for a body type motor caravan.

Read the full article at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman website