Fear, anger and a DVLA scam – first published 7 June 2014

I’m not usually a fearful or an angry person. Sometimes though there are things that make me cross or scared and in early June 2014 there were a few. People deal with both feelings in different ways and my way, especially with anger, usually involves seeing it as a problem to be solved. It may not be the right way but it’s the way my mind works and it works for me. Doing something, even if I know it won’t really make a difference, makes me feel better, more in control. As Mother would have said, ‘don’t get mad, get even.’

7 June 2014

This week has been mostly about fear and anger. So what has been getting to me? I’ll start with the fear because, frankly, I’m not sure how I can do anything about this one. A few weeks ago I was walking home and had just turned onto the boardwalk by the bench when I saw a man ducking under the railings and climbing down the bank. He was a scruffy but distinctive looking chap, Asian, with his hair cut short at the sides but long and messy on top. The really distinctive thing was the colour of the top part of his hair, it was dyed bright, orangey red.

He looked shifty and, as I passed the area he’d disappeared into I looked down and saw him with a group of other Asian men on the pebbles below. I guessed they were probably drinking or making a drug deal and walked on. It really wasn’t my problem or my business. This was when things got slightly weird. As I walked away there was a loud crash that made me jump. One of the men had thrown a bottle in my direction and it had shattered on the pebbles or the rail of the boardwalk. Maybe it wasn’t meant for me but it made me uneasy and I hurried off, looking back occasionally to check I wasn’t being followed, glad to see other people further along.

Since then I’ve seen the man a few times on the boardwalk and in the area but I’d never had the misfortune to pass him close by until earlier this week when I was on my way home. As I walked along the gravel path towards the Big Bridge Mr Red Hair came towards me on a bike. He was older than I’d thought at first, maybe fifty, maybe a little more. I stood to the side to let him pass and carried on walking but when I looked back he had turned around and was following me. I hurried on trying to get to the safety of the bridge, fearful of ending up in the river or worse. There was a young couple further along having a picnic and, as I approached them I looked back again and Mr Red Hair had gone.

Then, on Thursday night it happened again. It was sunny, I was enjoying my walk, looking at flowers and the birds in the water. When I came to the end of the boardwalk and started along the gravel path towards the bridge there was Mr Red Hair crouched at the edge of the path leaning against the wire fence of the demolished TV studio. There were other people around and I’d gone too far to turn back and go through the industrial estate so I walked past avoiding his eye. As I did he started muttering loudly and once I’d gone past he shouted something like, “people who live in houses taking the piss out of me.”

This morning I saw him again, cycling through the industrial estate with a friend, he glared at me as he passed and I snapped a picture as he disappeared into the distance. What’s his problem? I don’t mind admitting it’s made me nervous about walking that way in the evenings. Still, if I go missing, at least you will all know who to point the finger at eh? This brings me nicely round to anger. Part of me feels I should stop walking along the boardwalk, at least in the evening when Mr Red Hair seems to be about. Another part of me feels angry that a drunken or drug crazed weirdo should stop me using a path I love. Much thought has gone into how I can solve this problem. So far I haven’t come up with an answer.

Something else that has had me seeing red this week is a little scam that appears to have been going on for a while. Let me explain. Commando recently renewed the tax on my car. He did it online, as you do. What he didn’t realise was the site he’d gone onto, although identical in almost every way to the authentic DVLA site, was in fact a scam. In his defence, he works nights, he’d just got up and the sites are very similar. The tax disc arrived and all seemed well until he noticed the amount that had been taken from his bank account. When he phoned the real DVLA to query this he found out the scam.

The site he had gone on, top in the Google rankings even now, was actually run by a bunch of cheating, noxious scammers. They do apply for your tax disc but they charge a £40 fee for doing so. The problem is they don’t actually tell you this and they bank on people not noticing the difference between their site and the official one. What really makes me angry is that Google, the DVLA, trading standards and the national newspapers all know about this. They have known about it for a considerable amount of time.

According to the The Telegraph as long ago as 1 April – ‘The DVLA said the Government was working with Google and other organisations to raise awareness of the problem and ensure that “enforcement action is taken where appropriate”. A spokesman said: “The Department for Transport is aware of several websites not connected to DVLA or the official government website that are offering services to customers who are applying for tax discs and driving licences.”’

So why, pray tell, are they still allowed to rip people off? Why are Google still keeping them at the top of the search? Why is the DVLA allowing them to apply for tax discs, knowing full well they are ripping people off? Why is no one stopping them? Grrrr doesn’t even cover it. It isn’t the money, it’s the principal and I, for one, think Google should act as should the DVLA and Trading Standards, as soon as they know someone is scamming.

In the meantime, please be very careful when you apply for tax discs, passports, an Ehic or tax return. All these things and probably many more are being targeted by similar scammers. Read every single little bit of small print on the website you use and, if in doubt, don’t use it. Don’t give these evil scammers your money. Meanwhile I shall keep walking along the boardwalk but I’ll be very much on my guard as I do.

Please see my copyright information before you copy or use any of the above words or pictures.