Why did DVLA calls cost £38.34?

I needed to have an urgent conversation with somebody at the DVLA regarding a fine over my lateness in paying my Road Fund Licence (car tax).

It was Saturday lunchtime and I tried to call the DVLA but became exasperated with its automated options system.

Two or three times I managed to speak to somebody but was quickly told I should dial a different number. Twice the person rang off before I could make a note of it. At 2pm the whole DVLA telephone system shut down for the weekend.

First thing on Monday I used Google to look up “DVLA car tax phone number”. There was a large box display containing, among the DVLA ones, a number that was new to me. As it was my overriding concern to speak to a human voice, I dialled it. I immediately had the recorded messages “You are currently held in a queue and will be transferred to an operator as soon as possible” and “Please can you hold while we connect your call”. These messages were heard every 30 seconds or so but, being a Monday morning, I was not unduly worried.

The line was cut off after about 75 minutes, so I re-dialled it.

Five calls to this number cost me £38.34 for the four hours I was ringing it. IB, SURREY

A link below the number you used stated in bold that it is not associated with any Government organisation. It said it acts simply as a cost-effective call connection service for 7p per minute (which is not as much as some similar connection numbers) plus your telephone company’s network access charge.

The DVLA says the longest hold time it had for a call on that day was seven minutes so your call via the other number, it says, was not in the DVLA queue. I have emailed the address given for the telephone number firm in India four times over two weeks but had no reply.

You complained to Google and BT, your telecoms company, and spoke to DVLA, which said it did not recognise the other number.

BT’s access charge to this non-geographic number was actually 11p per minute, making it the larger beneficiary of these calls. Further to my conversations with BT it contributed £20 as a goodwill gesture.

I spoke to Google, where I found out that a search function called “featured snippets” had been put together by an automated algorithm with the number at issue appearing in a box accompanying the DVLA’s correct 0300 numbers. This was coming very high up in the search pecking order. My extensive involvement led to a small improvement but not perfection. Google said: “Featured snippets are algorithmically generated and are intended as a helpful way to find information you need more quickly. We’re always working to improve our processes, and we welcome feedback on misleading or low-quality information.”

It said it will take exceptional action to remove a featured snippet that is in violation of its policies.

The DVLA, which I felt did not seem to have tackled this issue assertively enough, assures me it is now talking to Government Digital Services about this.

I have urged it to make its own numbers more eye-catching on gov.uk. The central number for the DVLA is 0300 790 6802. For automated vehicle tax payments 0300 123 4321 is available 24 hours a day. The number for paying fines is 0300 790 6808 which, if you are phoning rather than paying online, have to be paid to a clerk. Appeals have to be in writing.

I also felt Ofcom should have taken an adequate stand against such practices before now, as well as preventing the hefty access charges that bulked up your bill with BT.

Now, because some information, connection and/or signposting services are dodging the rules of the Phone-paid Services Authority, the UK regulator, for premium rate services by using numbers – such as

the one at issue – that do not fall within the definition of controlled premium rate services, it is considering whether all such services should be brought under the Phone-paid Services Authority’s remit.

Ofcom is also thinking about, where appropriate, blocking calls to these numbers.