On Monday, I went to Portland City Hall to return the license plates of my daughter’s car. She has recently moved from Maine to Maryland, and she was told that her Maine license plates should be given back.

After I returned the plates to a woman working in City Hall, she completed a form and said, “Okay, you are done.” I thought she had simply forgotten to give me a receipt for the license plates. Therefore, I asked for a receipt.

To my surprise, she replied, “We don’t give such receipts.” I found this response very odd, so I guessed what she had said might have been only her personal opinion and not an approved policy.

I went back in the line and talked to another woman working in City Hall about what had happened. She said that she would ask her supervisor to see what she could do.

When she returned, her answer was, “We do not give receipts to customers upon getting their old license plates. You can ask for a receipt from the state since we submit these plates to the state of Maine.”

Such an answer is not convincing. First, there is no reason for not providing a receipt when a license plate is collected. Without a receipt, I have no proof that these plates have been delivered. What can I do if they are somehow lost or abused?

Besides, in a country where, for $1 of groceries, the costumer is entitled to a receipt, it is unimaginable that an official City Hall employee denies giving a receipt for collecting something as important as a license plate of a car. I suggest that the city reviews this policy and revises it properly.

Mehrdaad Ghorashi

Portland

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