DVLA DELAYS THREATEN TRANSPORT MUSEUM

Swansea has denied classic car venue a crucial source of income since 2020

The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) has said that the earning ability of popular classic car venue, the Transport Museum Wythall in Worcestershire, has been severely affected by the DVLA’s ongoing battle with COVID-19.

Classic Car Weekly revealed the Federation’s grievances with the DVLA in our 10 February issue relating to issues of identification, source of manufacture and registration; backlogs in processing crucial information has delayed members from getting their cars back on the road.

Transport Museum Wythall is one of the Federation’s member museums and has been renegotiating with the DVLA since last January to regain its trade licence, which it has held for more than 30 years, in order to operate its fleet of historic buses.

Wythall runs trips to and from local shows and had previously struggled to get exemptions from Birmingham City Council to run its vehicles in and out of that city’s Clean Air Zone, which is set to go live on 1 June.

With its trade licence withdrawn, Transport Museum Wythall’s status as a venue could be in question, as it would struggle to pay bills to keep facilities open and staff paid.

Transport Museum Wythall press officer, Denis Chick, said; ‘As very much a working museum, Transport Museum Wythall has a strict maintenance regime for its vehicle collection and requires a licence to ensure ongoing compliance with the regulations. We pride ourselves in having the majority of our buses “on the button” providing rides into the country at all of our events. DVLA effectively shut down high-level policy discussions in January 2020 due to COVID-19 so to suddenly be told that our licence has now been declined for no apparent reason is totally unacceptable. We will fight on, as COVID-19 should not be an excuse for such actions.’

The museum has hosted many car clubs in previous years, including ADO16.info, the Austin J40 Club and the Isuzu Piazza Turbo Owners’ Club.

A DVLA spokesperson said: ‘We have engaged with the FBHVC throughout the pandemic and responded to the issues they raised.’

] wythall.org.uk

Transport Museum Wythall – hosts of clubs like ADO16. info – have vowed to fight the DVLA over the reinstatement of its trade licence after the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.