Agggghhhhh!!!!!

So, this weekend it is wet and miserable, and we have a bus to pack!

After almost a month trying to get the bus's MOT actually recognised on the DVLA system (because it was done on the vehicle when it still had a French number place, this caused a few hiccups!) I called DVSA back around the end of August, and tried to explain the situation. They told me they'd let DVLA know and that it would be sorted within about 2 days.

3 weeks later, and it still wasn't showing on the system, so still couldn't tax the car (it has been declared SORN since we bought it - oh and ADHD, kept putting off chasing it up!) so I called again. This new person told me that due to DVLA shutting down completely in the first lockdown, that they had a backlog and the other person I spoke to shouldn't ever have said 2 days. She assured me it had been sent over, but not much.

I started to panic last week, fearing that the MOT would never show up. We'd booked the bus in for a service to make sure we were roadworthy before the trip to France, and I mentioned the chaos to my mechanic. He checked out a few things, and we discovered that the MOT might not even be possible to be swapped over, as when the guy we bought the bus from registered it in the UK, he registered it as a Transporter Caravelle, rather than just a Caravelle. The Transporter is considered a commercial vehicle, the Caravelle a private use one. MOT's for one type aren't ususally transferable.

We decided that the best thing to do would probably be to just MOT it again, as time was running low on whether the old one would be on there in time for us to tax the bus before we head off. But this issue with whether it was a private, or commercial vehicle was an issue - because under which type should it be MOT'd?!

I called DVSA again, and the lady there was lovely. She assured me that the registration issue wasn't an issue - phew! She also checked how DVLA were getting on with the backlog they'd built up, and said that amendments logged the day before I'd logged mine had been done the day before, so my MOT should be logged in the next day or two. Given how well things had gone so far, I wasn't too confident of that, so checked the category it should be MOT'd under (private), and let my lovely mechanic, Dave, MOT it for us just to be safe.

It passed, with no issues, and I was able to tax it straight away. In typical fashion, the very next day the old MOT showed up on it's official record! It was money we didn't want to spend, as we will need to get a French one done pretty soon, so we can re-register the bus in France, but at least this way we have peace of mind.

So, with Armande all ready to go, we are now trying to pack in as much stuff as we can! The bath and the loo are already inside. I have sinks and tiles to add to it, as well as light fittings, tools, bed frames and mattresses (I've treated us to new mattresses in a box - am so excited!)

I'll post pics when we're done! It is going to be a challenge - but I've always loved a good jigsaw!