‘Fred Flintstone’ puts lien on vehicle
Systems test by technician goes awry
• They’re the modern Stone Age vehicle liens.
A 75- year- old eastern Ontario woman discovered that a Fred Flintstone living on Yellow Brick Road and his daughter Pebbles had liens on her van when she tried to trade the vehicle.
The woman does not want to talk to media about her ordeal, but Randy Hillier, the Progressive Conservative member of the Ontario legislature who represents her riding, raised her case in the House on Wednesday.
“After 10 years, I thought I’d seen every imaginable government incompetence, but that all changed last week,” Hillier said.
“Maureen received her used- vehicle information package from Service-Ontario which showed no liens on the car.
“However, the car dealer would not pay her because the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services had registered a lien against her valid VIN number in the names of Fred and Pebbles Flintstone.”
Government and Consumer Services Minister Tracy MacCharles said Service-Ontario staff were doing testing and a technician used the popular cartoon characters from the Hanna-Barbera animated sitcom as test names.
“To my knowledge, there are no other similar cases, but I am committed to making sure that the right protocols are in place going forward,” she said.
Hillier wondered why valid vehicle information numbers were used in the testing, and he demanded to know why the matter took so long to fix. He said it took nine months to resolve the issue, but MacCharles said the woman contacted the ministry in March and the liens were discharged then.
MacCharles said t he woman has since successfully sold her vehicle and was “very happy” with the information she received from Service-Ontario.
Hillier said the incidence was clearly an act of gross incompetence, as everyone knows Fred Flintstone drives a foot- mobile, not a 2006 Chevy Uplander.
“I’m glad that the minister has worked on this and guaranteed to expunge this false and animated lien against Maureen,” he said.
“But will she guarantee that others affected by these Looney Tunes shenanigans won’t take nine months to get fixed?”