Episode 15

When Kathy Abraham from Swansea sold her old car last February she thought no more about it, until penalty notices started pouring through her letterbox. Between March and June, eleven local authorities issued her with thirteen notices, mostly for parking offences. She even received one from Hungary and was summoned to court in Oxford after her old car was caught jumping a red light. With almost £2000 worth of fines in her name and bailiffs knocking on her door, Kathy contacted the person who had bought her car. However, they had sold the car at auction before the offences began.

Kathy was shocked to discover that the DVLA’s records still named her as the car’s registered keeper. When she sold the car, she thought she had sent off the correct part of the logbook, but she hadn’t - and the part she did send got lost in the post. Finally in November, the DVLA confirmed that Kathy had not owned the car since February, but that wasn’t enough to cancel all of the cases against her.

X-Ray has been working hard to sort this out for Kathy. She will still have to go to court in Oxford because she didn't give police the information they needed in time. But there is good news too. She doesn't have to worry about any more bailiffs because all those warrants have been withdrawn. Seven penalty charges from four different councils have now been cancelled and another is about to be scrapped.

To make sure you don’t find yourself in Kathy’s position, Tim Shallcross from the Institute of Advanced Motorists has some good advice. “The most important thing when you sell or buy a car is the logbook or V5”, he says. “The new owner fills in their name and address in section 6 where it says new keeper, then both of you sign the boxes at the bottom. You’re signing it saying the car is no longer your responsibility from this date and they are saying they now accept responsibility from this date for everything to do with that car. You put it in the post, not them and send it to the DVLA in Swansea. Give the buyer the green slip at section 10, as this is their evidence that they have bought the car.”

Lynette Merchant from Bridgend owns a timeshare in Las Vegas, which she had been trying to sell online for two years. When she was cold called by a company called Club Almeria Vacations last year, offering to sell her apartment, she jumped at the chance. They soon called back, claiming they had found a buyer willing to pay £5,600 - more than she had been advertising it for – so she agreed. But before she could get the money, the company wanted some from her.

Firstly, they took a payment of £1,675 as a retainer to ensure she went through with the sale. Then they called and asked for a payment of £1,189 to cover the tax on the sale profits and then lastly, £683 for translation fees.

She told X-Ray’s, Rachel Treadaway-Williams: “I don’t know why I accepted what they were saying, but they were so plausible and their paperwork was the real thing, their website seemed to be the real thing.”

Consumer law expert Margaret Griffiths said she had almost definitely fallen foul of scammers and the initial call should have elicited alarm bells, “In the code of conduct for this industry it especially forbids cold calling of consumers, but I mean cold calling anyway you should always be very, very wary of any company that cold calls you. 

X-Ray tried to contact Club Almeria, who appear to be based in Spain, but their phone number is dead and they haven’t responded to our e-mails.

But the good news is that Lynette paid the initial payment on her credit card, which gives you extra protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. We contacted her credit card provider Sainsbury’s who have now refunded her all three payments.