Much-restricted public access to government shopfronts during the height of the Covid period last year has left thousands of Canberrans effectively paying more in return for receiving a reduced registration period on their vehicles.
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The Liberals want the government to "forward-date" the registrations of all those who failed to receive their number plates after paying their fees, in order to compensate them for delays, which in some cases stretched for up to a month.
The ACT government requires customers to collect their number plates in person.
But while Covid access restrictions were in place at government shopfronts from April 6 to July 17, 2020, very few people were able to front up.
Access Canberra delivered some plates to nominated addresses on the registration forms but for most customers, it was a case of waiting until the restrictions eased and in the interim, being unable to use their vehicles.
Around 5500 motorists were caught up in the delay, according to government-supplied data, which compared plate delivery dates from 2019-20 with 2020-21.
New vehicle registrations in the ACT defied the national market trend during a Covid-affected 2020 due to the lengthy backlog in January hailstorm insurance claims and delivery, but have dipped sharply this year.
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