Am I missing something here?

I'm going to apologies in advance guys as I have tried to give as much info as possible here...

BACKGROUND
The HR department of my work place have received an Attachment of Earnings Order from the London Collection and Compliance Centre for £800.

I had no idea what this was in relation to, so quickly called the LCCC for more information. I was told the £800 was in connection to a vehicle offence in July 2016 for a car they believed was mine.
Once the details of the car was told to me I explained that I never owned the vehicle but, in fact only insured the vehicle under my policy on behalf of my brother-in-law who was also on the policy and the registered keeper.

The LCCC explained that I was pursued for the fine because I failed to notify them in September (via post) last year who was driving the vehicle at the time of the offence so the case was brought to Court in my absence – hence the Attachment of Earnings Order.
I went on to say that I had not received any correspondence from anyone regarding this and asked what address had been used, of course the address was an old address that I had left a little under a year ago. (this was confirmed by them stating that they had indeed received returned mail from the new tenant)
I asked why I was the individual to pursue given that I was never the registered keeper, the vehicle was not insured by me at the time of the offence and furthermore in May 2016 a whole two months before the offence, the car had been sold on again by my Brother-in-law – which all would have been logged with the DVLA. I was told to speak directly to Bromley Magistrates Court.

I explained all of the above over the phone to the representative at Bromley Magistrates Court who too seemed a little bemused as to why I was even being pursued in this matter. I was asked to fill out a Statutory Declaration Order which is supposedly meant to close the open case so a new case can be opened where I would need to attend Court on the 23 March to state the facts and prove that I never lived at the address at the time when correspondence for the offence was sent.

I was ok with all this until I was informed yesterday that the Court date has been pushed back until the 20th of April and that the Attachment of Earnings order will still be in place and, given how much I earn, the full £800 will be deducted from my next salary.

THE PROBLEM
To me, it appears there are flaws with how information has been collated in this instance but, my main issue now is, when the Court date was originally the 23rd March, there would have been enough time for me to satisfy to the magistrates that I had absolutely no connection to the vehicle at the time of the offence – and then notify my HR team to cancel the Attachment of Earnings Order before my next salary is paid for the 28th.

With the new date being set, I am liable to loose £800 in one hit plus not be able to claim this back for nearly another month and then wait even longer for the claim to be processed and dispersed back to me.
This feels like I am being penalised for inaccuracies of the data collection in this case and, whatever happened to being innocent until proven guilty?

Comments

  • waamo
    waamo Posts: 10,298 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Name Dropper
    It sounds like you have been convicted of failing to name a driver when asked.

    I would ask on the Pepipoo forums found here http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=5
  • rich13348
    rich13348 Posts: 840 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Seek professional legal advice on this matter not forums.

    One thing that may help your case. You can use dvla form v888 to request details on all the people who have owned said vehicle. Or from date x to date y.

    You will need to give them a reason but being erroneously chased a crime you did not commit in a car you did not own seems reasonable.

    This will at least tell you who owned the vehicle at the time. Although you may have been named by the owner as the driver at the time.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    So, let me be sure I understand, because your post is fairly confusing.

    Your brother was registered keeper of a car, which was insured in your name.
    In May 2016, he sold it.
    In July 2016, somebody committed an offence in that vehicle.
    At some point, you were convicted of failing to provide information.
    Your employer has now received an attachment of earnings order.
    Your earnings are sufficient that the full £800 will be taken in one go.
    You have completed a Stat Dec, and have another court date of 23rd March.
    That court date has now been put back to 20th April.

    Maybe I'm missing something here...

    You didn't make mention of your brother having correctly sent the V5C back in the new keeper's name when he sold the car, and having received the confirmation back from DVLA. Can you confirm this DID happen?

    You make no mention of whether your insurer was still on risk for the vehicle in July, as far as MID was concerned.

    You say you had moved, but make no mention of whether you had made any attempt to have your post forwarded.

    I wonder why you even received an s172, since you weren't RK - did somebody name you as driver?
  • facade
    facade Posts: 7,013 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    AdrianC wrote: »

    You didn't make mention of your brother having correctly sent the V5C back in the new keeper's name when he sold the car, and having received the confirmation back from DVLA. Can you confirm this DID happen?

    You make no mention of whether your insurer was still on risk for the vehicle in July, as far as MID was concerned.

    You say you had moved, but make no mention of whether you had made any attempt to have your post forwarded.

    I wonder why you even received an s172, since you weren't RK - did somebody name you as driver?

    As I understand it, if the RK that DVLA supply claims to have sold the car and swears blind that they told DVLA, but doesn't know the new keeper's details, they use the MID and S172 whoever has the current insurance policy on the vehicle.

    So I'd bet the OP had insurance on the vehicle on the offence date.
    I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....

    (except air quality and Medical Science ;))
  • forgotmyname
    forgotmyname Posts: 32,545 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    BIL named you as the driver?

    Show them the proof you cancelled the insurance before the date of the offence?

    Puzzled why they would contact you an not your BIL?





    Word of the week: implausible.
    Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...

  • Hi all, thanks for you replies. Here's a few answers

    You didn't make mention of your brother having correctly sent the V5C back in the new keeper's name when he sold the car, and having received the confirmation back from DVLA. Can you confirm this DID happen?

    Yes, my brother-in-law did indeed send the V5C back and the new owner later confirmed receipt of new logbook.

    You make no mention of whether your insurer was still on risk for the vehicle in July, as far as MID was concerned.

    This is also why I'm confused. I cancelled the policy at the point of sale in May and received a cheque back from the insurance company for overpayment.

    You say you had moved, but make no mention of whether you had made any attempt to have your post forwarded.

    No I wouldn't have done that purely because I made arrangements with all relevant companies and suppliers of my new address at least a month prior to leaving the property. The insurance company didn't get the update from me because the policy was cancelled.

    I wonder why you even received an s172, since you weren't RK - did somebody name you as driver?

    From what I'm being told by the Court, the offence was driving without road tax - whether this was a pull over or a local council detection I really don't know.
  • Once again guys thanks for replying.
    I'm definitely going to seek some professional advice next week.

    I'm hoping the information I've collated will be enough when its my time in Court.
    So far I've got the letter from Insurance company confirming the cancellation of policy in May.
    Tenant exit document from when I vacated my old flat and the Tenancy agreement for the new one. I was also able to obtain the RK details of the vehicle at the time and still is the current RK, so will be providing this information too.
  • arcon5
    arcon5 Posts: 14,099 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    If you wasn't the registered keeper how did they even get your details??
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