§ 133. Mr. Radiceasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a further statement about the arrangements for repaying vehicle excise duty following his answer of 22nd February to the hon. Member for Chester-le-Street.—Official Report, column 649.
§ Mr. William RodgersI have already announced my decision to make ex gratia payments to people who, in March 1977, interpreted a reminder issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre as meaning that there would be no advantage in early renewal of vehicle excise duty licences in anticipation of possible increases in the Budget.
Payments will be made on the basis of completed claim forms, which may now be obtained by writing direct to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre, Swansea, SA99 1BU. This will be the only way to secure repayments. People should not, for instance, try to reduce the duty to be paid on their next licence renewals. The closing date for claims will be 28th April.
The amount of individual repayments will take account of the period and cost of the relevant licence and any rebate 700W of duty already paid to the claimant if he surrendered the licence before the end of its term.
Claims will be checked against the records held at Swansea. The length of time it will take to deal with claims will be affected by the volume of claims received but repayments will be made as quickly as possible, starting on 5th April.
Notice of these arrangements is being published in the national Press. They have been discussed with the two main motoring organisations which are in a position to answer inquiries from their members.
I am writing to all hon. Members sending them fuller details of the arrangements.