It’s a yabba dabba doozy.

A 75-year-old Kingston-area woman couldn’t trade in her Chevrolet SUV because Ontario’s Ministry of Government and Consumer Services registered a lien on it in the name of Pebbles and Fred Flintstone.

“I thought I’d seen every imaginable government incompetence,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Randy Hillier (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington), who raised the cartoonish case Wednesday in the legislature.

“Clearly, we all knew this was an act of gross incompetence as everyone knows the Flintstones live on Rocky Road in Bedrock, U.S.A., and Fred drives a foot-mobile, not a 2006 Chev Uplander.”

A copy of the lien from Carproof vehicle history reports shows the Flintstone address as “9 Street” in Markham, Ont., and Pebbles’ birthdate as Jan. 1, 1950.

The goof took nine months to clear up after someone in the ministry had the nerve to advise hiring a lawyer to expunge the lien instead of simply fixing an obvious mistake.

“There was a human error. It’s been identified. It’s been corrected,” said Government and Consumer Services Minister Tracy MacCharles.

The woman, whom Hillier identified as Maureen but said she did not want her last name used, contacted Service Ontario in March and the lien was discharged, MacCharles explained.

How did it all happen?

Testing on the computer system was conducted with fake names entered by a technician in relation to VINs — vehicle identification numbers, MacCharles said.

The test names were not removed, which begat the slate of problems that reduced the woman’s hopes of trading in her car to rubble.

“It’s a human error... Service Ontario, of course, is reviewing what happened. To my knowledge, there are no other similar cases, but I am committed to making sure the right protocols are in place going forward,” MacCharles added.

The woman has since managed to sell her vehicle.

Compounding the TV references, Hillier asked “how many more ‘Mystery Machines’ have had liens placed on them in the names of Scooby-Doo and the gang and other Saturday morning cartoon personalities?”

He urged the government to stop “these Looney Tunes shenanigans” as MPPs on all sides of the house barely contained their laughter.

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“I appreciate the member opposite’s sense of humour,” MacCharles replied. “Service Ontario will take steps to prevent it from happening again.”

Any discipline of the staff responsible for the error and the handling of the subsequent problems for the car owner is “up to the ministry and the bureaucrats to deal with,” she added.

One MPP said privately, “if this mess happened to me I’d be sending Bamm-Bamm over.”