Ontario woman's van trade-in stonewalled by Fred Flintstone

They're the modern Stone Age vehicle liens.

A 75-year-old eastern Ontario woman discovered that a Fred Flintstone living on Yellow Brick Road and his daughter Pebbles had liens on her van when she tried to trade the vehicle.

The woman does not want to talk to media about her ordeal, but Randy Hillier, a Progressive Conservative member of the Ontario parliament who represents her riding, raised her case in the legislature on Wednesday.

"After 10 years, I thought I'd seen every imaginable government incompetence, but that all changed last week," Hillier said.

"Maureen received her used vehicle information package from ServiceOntario which showed no liens on the car. However, the car dealer would not pay her because the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services had registered a lien against her valid VIN number in the names of Fred and Pebbles Flintstone."

Government and Consumer Services Minister Tracy MacCharles said ServiceOntario staff were doing testing and a technician used the Flintstones as test names.

'Looney Tunes shenanigans'

"To my knowledge, there are no other similar cases, but I am committed to making sure that the right protocols are in place going forward," she said.

Hillier wondered why valid vehicle information numbers were used in the testing. He demanded to know why the matter took so long to fix. He said it took nine months to resolve the issue, but MacCharles said the woman contacted the ministry in March and the liens were discharged then.

MacCharles said the woman has since successfully sold her vehicle and was "very happy" with the information she received from ServiceOntario.

Hillier said this is clearly an act of gross incompetence, as everyone knows Fred Flintstone drives a foot-mobile not a 2006 Chevy Uplander.

"I'm glad that the minister has worked on this and guaranteed to expunge this false and animated lien against Maureen," he said. "But will she guarantee that others affected by these Looney Tunes shenanigans won't take nine months to get fixed?"