Why 700,000 registration notices were sent late

A BUREAUCRATIC bungle is being blamed for a whopping 700,000 vehicle registration notices being sent out late this month.

It comes amid claims registration notices from previous months weren’t being sent out on time.

One man said he was fined almost $1000 after he never received a renewal notice.

The Department of TransA port and Main Roads has confirmed notices for vehicle renewals due in July were late, but was adamant that most people received their registration notices before the onemonth deadline.

“Vehicle registration renewal notices to about 700,000 customers with registration due in July were briefly delayed,” a department spokeswoman said.

“This was due to an unavoidable issue with the finalisation of the fees for 2020-21.”

However, the department refused to say why fees were only finalised on June 12.

The spokeswoman said the Queensland Treasury was responsible for the decision, before saying that drivers should not be reliant on notices to pay their vehicle registration.

“It is the registered operator’s responsibility to ensure their vehicle is registered,” the spokeswoman said.

Despite Transport and Main Roads insisting that no notices before July were delayed, at least one motorist has reported three notices not showing up when expected in April.

Brian Macfarlane received a whopping $960 penalty for driving an unregistered vehicle without CTP insurance in late June. Mr Macfarlane said his notice never arrived.

“The notice was for April, so it definitely was two months late,” Mr Macfarlane said. “I was just relying on the notice.”

Mr Macfarlane said he had no prior history of late payment of vehicle registration, and that notices for two other vehicles in his family also didn’t arrive on time.

“It’s frustrating because it wasn’t just my notice, it was my wife’s vehicle (as well),” Mr Macfarlane said.

“(My sister) didn’t receive her notice either, and her notice arrived two days after she called Queensland Transport.

“You can understand one notice getting lost in the mail, but the fact that multiple notices didn’t arrive made me think there was an issue getting out, or with the postal system,” Mr Macfarlane said.

LNP leader Deb Frecklington has slammed the bungle and said the State Government needed to come clean.

“It shouldn’t take everyday Queenslanders getting pulled over and fined for the Labor Government to come clean about their rego stuff-up,” Ms Frecklington said.