Scrappage scheme “chaos”

The Daily Mail is reporting that the scrappage scheme designed to kick-start the ailing car industry has descended into chaos. Thousands of motorists may not receive the vehicles they were promised on time because of a Government 'blunder' over paperwork.

Industry bosses described the confusion ahead of the launch on Monday as a 'fiasco'. The confusion, which centres on VAT, affects all 39 car-makers who signed up to the scheme.

Thousands of motorists may not receive the vehicles they were promised on time because of a Government 'blunder' over paperwork Under the initiative, those selling cars and small vans more than ten years old receive a £2,000 discount on a new car. But thousands of customers who took up the offer were warned last night that they would not receive their discounted cars as planned in two days.
Most car-makers warned they will not be delivering discounted cars on Monday, with Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Fiat, Honda and Toyota the worst affected.

Vince Mann, director of the Hendy Group of car dealerships which includes Ford, Honda, Kia and Mazda, said: 'It's a fiasco. A complete Government cock-up. 'They haven't sorted out the paperwork to allow us to release the cars to customers. 'Honda has emailed its dealerships and said we can't issue the cars to our customers until this is sorted out. 'But it's not just Honda affected. All the manufacturers are hit.'
Last night, emergency meetings were taking place between car makers and officials from Lord Mandelson's Department for Business to resolve the problem.

The Government issued guidance on how the scheme will run on Thursday night. But yesterday car-makers told the Government they were unhappy with some of the key points and had 'serious questions' about VAT. Full story...