A business man made a claim to a court because his driving licence had been lost by the DVLA. Judges take a dim view of these issues especially when the businessman claimed to have lost £127,000 due to the blunder.

A routine application for a driving license, the businessman who was an education consultant remitted his documents through the post. He had included a special delivery envelope addressed to himself for the safe return of said documents which the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) had asked for, unfortunately they returned them using first class post and they never arrived.

He applied to the Court to sue the Department for Transport (DfT) the managing body of DVLA as he could not travel for an extended period and his business had suffered. There were difficulties throughout the case, not least was the man’s failure to appear at a hearing where the judge found in favour of the DfT.

He applied to the Court of Appeal as he had failed to appear at the previous hearing because he was unwell with knee problems that were resolved after he had surgery. The Court also believed that there was a case to answer on the negligence of the DfT.

The DVLA had been entrusted with the documents and it was therefore arguable that it owed him a duty of care. It also could not possibly be argued that the DVLA could rely on the statutory immunity from such claims enjoyed by the Post Office. Although the Court urged that every effort be made to settle the matter, its decision opened the way for a full hearing of the man’s claim.