Crushed...

Getting rid of your car isn't as easy as I'd first thought. Actually I'd not really thought about it at all so actually my first thought was that it wouldn't be easy at all. As ever, the action is easy - but bureaucracy trails in it's wake like so much jetsam.

I'd called the scrapyard to arrange collection and they duly turned up on time and towed Bessie away. So far so easy. But a few telephone calls later and I realised that there was more to this than met the eye. How would I get my all important certificate of destruction? Nice name, huh? I'd heard various horror stories of people being hounded by the DVLA when they thought cars were still on the road and the car tax hadn't been paid. Even if they were now in itty bitty pieces. And a friend of mine had her car crushed (or so she thought) only to have the police turn up on her doorstep a couple of weeks later saying it'd been involved in a robbery. She had to persuade them that she no longer owned the car. A certificate of destruction would pretty much clear both these dangers up.

So I wanted to do this right. I did my research on the interwebnet and made a few calls. There were three organisations to contact:

DVLA
Send them sub-form V5C section 9 filled in to say car has been given (OK, sold for a nominal sum) to a scrapyard. And also fill in form V11 and attach the old tax disc to claim back prepaid car tax (full months only mind).

Insurance
Write to Direct Line to notify them that I want my insurance policy and breakdown cover to stop immediately. They rather gleefully informed me on the phone that I'd be liable to pay my premium for the rest of the current month plus one whole extra month cancellation fee. Really? Sounds like daylight robbery to me.

Parking Permit
Islington Council were a dream to deal with. Download a PDF form from their site, sign it and send it back with my existing parking permit and I get full refund plus £200 in vouchers towards a new bicycle or Streetcar car club for being green (or is that Green?)

Job done.