Monday 06 February 2012
Environment Department response to media enquiries from the Guernsey Press
Enquiry:
Why has it taken eight years to identify the problem and what exactly was it?
Where does the blame lie for the error? Will there be any action taken?
How many people will be impacted?
How much could it cost the States?
Response:
Why has it taken eight years to identify the problem and what exactly was it?
It is probably easiest to respond to these two questions in reverse.
It has come to light that, some years before the Environment Department was formed in 2004, four small increases in the fees charged for certain transactions involving the transfer of registration marks were introduced without the requisite legal processes.
It has taken some time to identify the matter because, until quite recently, there was not a need to make a detailed examination of the law relating to the fees for transfers. In the latter half of 2011 officers were looking into the laws which govern vehicle registration and an anomaly was identified. After a thorough investigation the Law Officers were able to ascertain that the increases that had taken place for three types of transactions were not, in fact, covered by the requirements of the law and, after examining a number of alternatives, the Environment Department resolved that it should devise a scheme for offering reimbursement of the overpaid amounts. The three types of transaction for which there was not legal sanction to increase the fee are:
- A registration mark that has not been reserved as a special mark, but has been drawn from the pool of numbers held by the Department and has been assigned to a vehicle that is currently registered with a Guernsey mark.
- An exchange of registration marks between two individuals where one of the numbers is a special mark.
- An exchange of registration marks between two individuals where both numbers are special marks.
Where does the blame lie for the error? Will there be any action taken?
This is not a blame issue, the Environment Department has discovered an old error from a previous government and is seeking to put it right. The Department can confirm that none of the current staff or political members were in office at the time of the original errors.
The Department believes that, by taking the action that it has, it can help correct a long standing wrong.
How many people will be impacted?
It is impossible to give an accurate answer to this question because there is a multitude of factors that will influence whether or not people will choose to make claims.
Some may consider it not worthwhile (the sums involved for single or double transactions are fairly small perhaps as low as £1)
How much could it cost the States?
As for the previous question, it is very difficult to give a definitive answer and the costs are directly linked to the number of legitimate claims that are filed.
The Environment Department will be happy to release the actual sum claimed at the end of the process.
Contact Information:
Chris Hurley, Director of Traffic and Environmental Services
Environment Department
Tel: 243400
