It feels like Round One in the paperwork saga went to the government, with the unexpected assistance of the Royal Enfield Owners Club. The adjudication stands; no dating certificate due to apparent overstamping of chassis number. The dating officer confided that although controls were lax in the old days, the problem was that he couldn’t be sure the overstamped number was a factory mistake, and as the DVLA are apparently very twitchy about such things he couldn’t change his dating letter. The fact that the Black Bullet came with a number registered before the bike was built would not have helped but I’ve never insisted on re-instating that number. Ultimately the registration is just a number but I’d like to have an age-related plate issued, if only to keep in with the otherwise original condition of the cycle. To this end, I took the application, the dating letter and the MOT to my local DVLA office in person, to plead my case. I also took my two-year-old son, Poz, along for the ride.
Unfortunately, Round Two went to the government as well. I sat in a glorious Monday morning traffic jam, on a rare weekday off, only to be asked for an insurance certificate for the bike when I got to the DVLA office. I’d had a quotation but was waiting on a registration mark to get the insurance. No one had mentioned that this worked the other way round. There was no reference to it in the supporting documentation either.
Poz did his best to charm the staff behind the desk and they smiled as he waggled his feet and announced ‘cocks’ (for socks) but they wouldn’t move on this point.
“We never issue a number without an insurance certificate,” they said. I wanted to ask why no mention was made of the requirement anywhere, in light of the policy being so set in stone an’ all, but I held my tongue. I was expecting hurdles and that’s what I got, so no real surprise there.
Another slightly ludicrous aspect of this sequence of events (which I also kept to myself) is that the insurance policy will now be made against the chassis number, which is the very thing that’s in dispute. Which of the numbers should I use? If they don’t ask for proof (the MOT guy took the overstamp for real), could this amount to evidence against the opinion of the REOC guy?
Really, they should all agree that the bike is an old man’s hobby horse and just give it a bloody registration number. Any number will do. I’ll just buy an old plate one day, if I think it’s important enough, no sweat.
The REOC dating officer was right about them being twitchy, though, even with an MOT and an insurance certificate the Black Bullet will have to undergo an inspection before a final decision on registration is made. This involves hiring a van, or trailer, and bussing it over to Theale, near Reading, Tuesdays and Thursdays only. Unfortunately, I'm unlikely to get a chance to do this for a couple or three weeks, so more damn delays.
