Cagiva Freccia is Legal

[EVguru]

The Freccia's MOT went without a hitch and was followed by a visit to the Local DVLA office the next day. The Luton branch has always been busy, but friendly and helpfull (This is presumably why it's being shut next year). After some back office discussion and requests for an invoice from the conversion company (fine, give me a bit of paper) it was decided I needed an inspection. They organised this on the spot and an appointment made for the following week. Photographic evidence, even if it shows the frame number is not sufficient.

After loading the bike up and driving the 15 miles to the inspection site (a Dairy Farm yard) the inspector came over and checked registration and frame numbers. I then had to explain to him that he'd read the wrong number on the frame. Italian bikes have a short number ('5P*05631*' for example) and also a much longer number starting 'DGM'. The later is the type approval number for the model of bike. Many imported Italian bikes have been registered on the type approval number and I really would have thought that by now the inspectors would know about it. The DVLA database should also be picking up and rejecting duplicate numbers, but it doesn't. Anyway, the inspector thanked me and started to walk away, so I asked to him to check the fuel type since that was in fact the sole purpose of the inspection as far as I was concerned. He said that that wasn't in the paperwork he'd been given, but duly checked and made a note.

I hadn't heard anything for a while and was about to chase the DVLA, however there had been a card through the door earlier in the week for an underpaid item of post. This turned out to be my NIL rate tax disc. This time it's the Post office systems that have failed. A franked item CANNOT be underpaid. There was quite a queue in the post office of people collecting underpaid items and they were being handed out without charge.

[MalcolmB]

Congratulations Paul!

I'll have to try and make it down south some time and see what a real conversion looks like!

I must have been very lucky with my bike, as the local DVLA office issued me with a tax disc in just a couple of minutes, without asking for any documents or any inspection. I did get a call from two traffic officers a few weeks later though, but this turned out to be due to a "failure of communication" at the DVLA. The police made a note of the frame number then wandered off muttering something about the left hand not knowing what the right was doing.