Doc-Watch, day 3

Absent any appearance of registration documents, all I can really do is document their non-appearance.

Given that the bike was registered on Tuesday 24th March 2009, every day since then when I can't use it is being stolen from me by faceless back office jobsworth Morlocks. Every half-hour of sunshine and dry weather - and in Jockland, every such period is a significant proportion of "Summer" - is missed riding time that I'll never get back.

I'm counting today, Friday, as day 3, since there is no good reason on God's clean earth why it should take more than a few hours - actually a few minutes - to check the documentation that I provided on Tuesday against the customs import records for the bike, and post out the reg number on the same day. Or even - gasp! - hand them out over the counter, as apparently used to be the way before the DVLA had to be expanded to keep more failed Burger King applicants out of the unemployment figures.

Does this really matter? Well, put it this way: if I started riding the bike today, and told the DVLA that I'd complete the paperwork and register it when it was convenient for me, would that be acceptable to them?

The prosecution rests.