10:40 am, June 25, 2013
A DIRECTOR of a West Yorkshire-based dealership has hit out at DVLA plans to close his local office in Leeds – stating that it’s had a drastic effect on the way his business operates.
According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Vic Elam – director of Elam’s in Huddersfield – claims that five jobs have already gone at his dealership because red-tape measures are slowing down the processing of vital paperwork for services like foreign imports and cherished number plates.
Last year, DVLA’s Colton office in Leeds processed 187,000 car registration, tax and driving license applications. Elam, who is backing the Public and Commercial Services Union in its campaign against the closure plan, claimed that documents which took four or five days to process locally could now take up to two or three months.
Elam told the paper: ‘We are extremely concerned. There will be mayhem. Leeds has always been an excellent service, but this is affecting businesses throughout the motor trade.’
The Leeds office is just one of 39 of the DVLA’s local offices scheduled for closure by the end of 2013. These closures will be a step change towards a digital business as transactions and services will be delivered through a mix of alternative channels.
A DVLA spokesperson added: ‘The DVLA has been serving motorists for more than 40 years but times and customers’ needs change. We continue to transform our services to give customers more choice and flexibility.
‘Our continued movement towards digital transactions and the greater use of other organisations to deliver services on our behalf will make it easier for customers to deal with us in a way that suits them.’
