The Wet, Wet UK I arrived in London, caught a taxi to the warehouse close to the airport, and un-crated the RT which had arrived with various damages to the crate, but none to the bike itself. I took delivery of it the following morning after paying the handling fees and proceeded to Plymouth via
The Wet, Wet UK
I arrived in London, caught a taxi to the warehouse close to the airport, and un-crated the RT which had arrived with various damages to the crate, but none to the bike itself.
I took delivery of it the following morning after paying the handling fees and proceeded to Plymouth via the M4 and M5. I had arrived during a heat-wave with heavy weather clothing, topped off with a ‘Aerostich’ suit. The heat-wave which ended as I approached Plymouth. The heavens opened and it pissed down while I was stuck in a traffic jam, which I read in a local paper the next day had been caused by a prospective suicider threatening to drop off a bridge onto the motorway below. Welcome home!
Due to the weather and other commitments, I managed five decent length trips on the RT, visiting places where I used to live (as in inhabit/dwell) and drink. I found that the majority of the drinking houses had been converted from 90% drink / 10% food, into 10% drink / 90% food and from no kids to loads of them.
It is interesting to note that during the two weeks that I was driving in the UK, I had no registration plate on the bike and that I was only stopped once and that was by a fellow motorist, who informed me that I had ‘lost my number plate’.
UK Registration
With respect to the registration, I had brought with me from Dubai, in addition to the required documentation, every conceivable document that I thought might be required.
As I was passing the DVLA office at Exeter on my way to Plymouth, the documents were submitted and inspected, I was informed that all were in order accept that I did not have the customs import certificate. The importers who were handling the bike had explained to me in London that this would be issued and forwarded to me in about a week’s time.
In order to save time, the following day I visited the customs at Plymouth and showed them the documentation that I had. They were very helpful and without any fuss, issued me with the necessary form that I needed for registration and this was sent off to DVLA Exeter.
In spite of being informed that my papers were in order with the exception of the customs form, three days later I received a ‘rejection due to missing documentation, original registration certificate not submitted, photocopy not acceptable’. I biked the 50 miles over to Exeter in non-stop drizzle the following morning and explained:
(a) The original UAE registration certificate must be submitted before an export certificate is issued, without which the bike cannot be exported.
(b) Their (DVLA’s) own instructions / guide to registering a motor vehicle, states that the original registration certificate should be submitted if available. I explained the reason why it wasn’t available, adding that I had provided a photocopy. The ‘supervisor’ was consulted who agreed to accept the photocopy.
The person who was handling the document then found a further problem and wandered off to re-consult the supervisor. A lengthy discussion resulted without consulting me. After some fifteen minutes of this, I got fed up, ignored the notices and walked behind the desk to where a group of people were in deep serious discussion, which I found was concerned with the year of manufacture. This has to be mentioned on the registration certificate and is reflected on the number plate issued. Both 1998 and 1999 were mentioned in the BMW and Dubai documentation. I explained that the RT was manufactured in 1998 but was a 1999 model (it has a 1999 colour scheme, opal blue). It was agreed that the bike was a 1998 bike and the documentation accepted / completed and a 1998 registration plate number issued which was made and fitted within the hour.
Street legal at last, all I had to do now was wait for the next ferry to Spain.