Whether we drive a car or ride a motorcycle, the DVLA keeps records on 43 million of us in the UK. The DVLA know where we live, when we got our licence and most importantly they know what we're entitled to drive - or do they?
Had to retake motorbike test
Jon Jones has been riding motorbikes for more than 30 years, passing his motorcycling test in 1981. He has ridden across Europe six times, competed in speedway and motocross since the age of 10 and covered more than 100,000 miles on his bike. Regardless of this, the DVLA told him he needed to retake his motorbike test.
Jon had a licence that allowed him to drive a car and a motorcycle. When he sent his licence to the DVLA to update his details, the DVLA returned it without his motorcycle entitlement.
Without his motorcycle entitlement, Jon was not legally allowed to ride his motorcycle. When Jon phoned the DVLA, it told him it had no record that he'd ever had a motorbike licence at all.
The DVLA told Jon that he would have to provide a copy of his pass certificate from when he passed his exam 28 years ago or start all over again and retake the motorcycle tests.
Paying out more money
With no option but to take the tests again, Jon had to book time off work, and pay for an instructor as well as the costs of the tests.
Watchdog covered a similar story in 2005 and Dave Hancock of the DVLA visited us in the studio. Back then, he told us that the DVLA "take it very seriously" and wanted to "work with customers to make sure the entitlement that appears on their licence is in fact correct for the test they've taken."
Jan Shepperd says the DVLA also stripped her of her motorbike licence. Jan sent her licence back to the DVLA to change her name because she got married. When the DVLA returned it, the motorcycling entitlement had been removed. Jan was also told to prove her case by sending in her original pass certificates.
"They were asking me for proof for the certificates that I'd sent in, but you had to send the original so therefore I have no proof of that." Jan told us.
When Jan rang the DVLA, they agreed she'd passed her test and could even tell her when. However they still insisted she'd never had a licence.
One customer feels disgusted
"I feel disgusted really. I'm saying one thing and they're saying I'm lying. How do you fight a government agency when I'm just one person on my own?"
The DVLA doesn't just wipe motorbike licences from their records, sometimes it invents them. Late last year Oliver Dunn noticed that when he sent his licence to the DVLA to update his address, they removed his entitlement to drive a car - and replaced it with the category A motorcycle entitlement.
Oliver told us that, despite never even having sat on a motorbike, "according to the DVLA he'd had a bike licence for 15 years."
Fortunately, Oliver was able to track down his old driving instructor, who agreed to sign an affidavit, to prove to the DVLA that he'd actually had a car driver's licence for the past 15 years.
DVLA response
When Watchdog contacted the DVLA it said: "It is vital that the DVLA protects the safety of road users and pedestrians by ensuring that only people who can prove they have passed the relevant driving test are allowed to drive on our roads.
"Errors are extremely rare - a recent check of 1,000 motorcyclists licence transactions showed that 100 per cent were completed correctly - but we thoroughly investigate all cases reported to us and do everything we can to resolve them."
DVLA removing licence entitlements
Had to retake motorbike test
Jon Jones has been riding motorbikes for more than 30 years, passing his motorcycling test in 1981. He has ridden across Europe six times, competed in speedway and motocross since the age of 10 and covered more than 100,000 miles on his bike. Regardless of this, the DVLA told him he needed to retake his motorbike test.
Jon had a licence that allowed him to drive a car and a motorcycle. When he sent his licence to the DVLA to update his details, the DVLA returned it without his motorcycle entitlement.
Without his motorcycle entitlement, Jon was not legally allowed to ride his motorcycle. When Jon phoned the DVLA, it told him it had no record that he'd ever had a motorbike licence at all.
The DVLA told Jon that he would have to provide a copy of his pass certificate from when he passed his exam 28 years ago or start all over again and retake the motorcycle tests.
Paying out more money
With no option but to take the tests again, Jon had to book time off work, and pay for an instructor as well as the costs of the tests.
Watchdog covered a similar story in 2005 and Dave Hancock of the DVLA visited us in the studio. Back then, he told us that the DVLA "take it very seriously" and wanted to "work with customers to make sure the entitlement that appears on their licence is in fact correct for the test they've taken."
Jan Shepperd says the DVLA also stripped her of her motorbike licence. Jan sent her licence back to the DVLA to change her name because she got married. When the DVLA returned it, the motorcycling entitlement had been removed. Jan was also told to prove her case by sending in her original pass certificates.
"They were asking me for proof for the certificates that I'd sent in, but you had to send the original so therefore I have no proof of that." Jan told us.
When Jan rang the DVLA, they agreed she'd passed her test and could even tell her when. However they still insisted she'd never had a licence.
One customer feels disgusted
"I feel disgusted really. I'm saying one thing and they're saying I'm lying. How do you fight a government agency when I'm just one person on my own?"
The DVLA doesn't just wipe motorbike licences from their records, sometimes it invents them. Late last year Oliver Dunn noticed that when he sent his licence to the DVLA to update his address, they removed his entitlement to drive a car - and replaced it with the category A motorcycle entitlement.
Oliver told us that, despite never even having sat on a motorbike, "according to the DVLA he'd had a bike licence for 15 years."
Fortunately, Oliver was able to track down his old driving instructor, who agreed to sign an affidavit, to prove to the DVLA that he'd actually had a car driver's licence for the past 15 years.
DVLA response
When Watchdog contacted the DVLA it said: "It is vital that the DVLA protects the safety of road users and pedestrians by ensuring that only people who can prove they have passed the relevant driving test are allowed to drive on our roads.
"Errors are extremely rare - a recent check of 1,000 motorcyclists licence transactions showed that 100 per cent were completed correctly - but we thoroughly investigate all cases reported to us and do everything we can to resolve them."
DVLA removing licence entitlements