Getting Things Done the French Way 4

I wonder if the left hand knows what the right is doing here at times.  Rosie and I, on the way to Monet's Garden, took our bit of paper we were sent by DREAL to the Prefecture in Caen to get the Toyota registered - see previous post.  We were given a numbered ticket on entry and then waited with loads of others for our turn.  One and a half hours later we were called up to a desk.  We presented the paper to the lady plus I gave her copies of all the other paperwork I had given to DREAL - just in case.  

After explaining what we needed we were told we needed the original papaers.  We said that we had been told by DREAL that all that was required was this paper from them.  The lady checked with her boss but they only confirmed that they needed the original.  We asked if they could ring DREAL. 'No' was the reply.  'Can we speak with your boss please?'  'No he isn't available until this afternoon' we were told. Through gritted teeth I said 'but you just spoke with him'. 'Ah yes, but he is not available until this afternoon, sorry'.  We knew we were not going to get any further and it seemed pointless to point out that they were not open to the public in the afternoon!

The lady did check through the paperwork and said that it was all that was required but they needed the originals, but we could now post it in to save as queueing.  Rosie rung DREAL later and the man there said he didn't realise we needed the originals and he would take copies for himself and return as the originals. I do wonder how many cars he has checked for importation before?

And to add insult to our long wait in the Prefecture, when we returned the the car it had a parking ticket on it, even though I had paid for and was clearly displaying a ticket.  It turns out I had parked the car the wrong way round - against the flow of traffic.  So apart from having a wasted morning we were 17 Euro worse off!