'Cloned cars' warning after city driver loses pounds8k on dodgy van

A man from Bath who lost more than pounds8,000 after a van hebought turned out to a 'cloned car' is warning other people to beextra vigilant when buying a new vehicle.

Alan Birrell, 59, from Weston, is just one of hundreds of peoplein the UK who have unwittingly bought stolen cars following thetheft of a large consignment of blank DVLA vehicle registrationforms.

It is part of a nationwide problem being tackled by police forcesall over the country.

With three cloned vehicles being seized a week by Avon andSomerset police officers, Bath MP Don Foster has now taken thematter to Parliament.

Before Mr Birrell bought his Volkswagon Caddy van he ensured hehad checked the vehicle was legitimate by paying the RAC to do acheck to confirm if it had outstanding car finance, was recorded asstolen, or had previously been written-off.

He even travelled to Leicester to meet the man who was named onthe van's log book, at the address which was also printed on the V5Cregistered keeper form.

Mr Birrell was reassured enough by the check and the fact that hehad been to the address on the log book to press on with thepurchase.

He handed the man pounds6,000 for his new vehicle and returned toBath happy with his purchase, and spent another couple of thousandpounds doing the van up.

But five months later when he tried to re-tax the vehicle, he hada visit from the police.

He said: "I had the police arrive who told me that my vehicle wasstolen and had been cloned and that they needed to take it away.

"I couldn't believe it because I had checked it out andeverything seemed fine. I was gutted. They told me that back in thespring, more than 100,000 log books had been stolen and that thethieves had been using HPI checks to their advantage.

"I have now lost all my money that I spent on the van and doingit up and had to spend another pounds10,000 on a different van whichI bought from a garage this time.

"The police told me that I had done everything right and thatthere were no other checks I could have done.

"That is what is so upsetting. Innocent people are losing outbecause of these gangs."

Police in Leicester are now hunting for the crook, who appearedto have simply turned up in front of the house in that city wherethe van had been registered.

So far the latest "missing documents" crisis to hit theGovernment has allowed car thieves to make at least pounds4 millionfrom innocent members of the public.

Gangs are using the stolen V5C forms to present unsuspecting victims with official, watermarked reassurance that they are buying legitimate cars, not stolen ones.

Only later does the victim discover the vehicle is stolen and,with their new cars confiscated by police, they are left withoutcompensation.

A spokesman for the DVLA, said: "As soon as the agency becameaware of this problem we contacted the police and issued a warningto motorists to check the registration certificate before buying aused vehicle.

"Since then the agency has updated the public with five furtherwarnings and continues to work closely with the police to preventabuse of the vehicle registration system.

"DVLA has every sympathy with any member of the public who unwittingly buys a stolen vehicle.

"We provide every assistance to help people avoid this, includingrunning an information hotline for the public to check if acertificate may be invalid prior to the purchase of a vehicle."

Mr Foster, who is hoping to make people more aware about thistype of crime, said people needed to be vigilant when buyingvehicles and must read the small print when paying for a HPI check.

He said: "There are many companies which offer customers the HPIchecks but not all of them will give people the legal right to makea claim of compensation if it turns out their vehicle is stolen.

"I would really recommend people read all terms and conditions. Iam hoping to raise more awareness for this type of crime it is justtoo easy for people to clone. More action needs to be taken to stopthis from happening."