DVLA appeal

sweetcatatonia_2

Hi,

I had a car through Renault Finance that I could no longer afford the repayments on, so I returned it on 07/03/08. I just received a letter to say that I failed to relicense the car - the tax expired 25/04/08. As with so many other people, I sent off the relevant section of the V5.

I've looked for help with writing an appeal, and I have found other threads discussing this. However, other people don't seem to have received an acknowledgement letter after sending the V5 section back, whereas I did. The problem I have is that I threw the letter away at the end of June having kept it until well after the tax disc was due for renewal, thinking that if there was any problem (and if there is, I'm usually the one to experience it!), they would write to me at most 1 month after my tax disc had expired (how naive was I?). When I didn't get anything from them, I naturally assumed that I didn't need to keep the letter.

I am so upset over this, I am on a very low wage & can't afford extra expenses. I am appalled that the onus is on me to keep hold of paperwork indefinitely because the DVLA is so incompetent.

I am also worried that if they disregard my appeal, I will end up having to pay £80 instead of £40, or going to court to prove my innocence. Why should I beat myself up over throwing that letter away, after waiting 2 months for them to contact me if there was any problem?

tkblueyonder

sweetcatatonia wrote: »

Hi,

I had a car through Renault Finance that I could no longer afford the repayments on, so I returned it on 07/03/08. I just received a letter to say that I failed to relicense the car - the tax expired 25/04/08. As with so many other people, I sent off the relevant section of the V5.

I've looked for help with writing an appeal, and I have found other threads discussing this. However, other people don't seem to have received an acknowledgement letter after sending the V5 section back, whereas I did. The problem I have is that I threw the letter away at the end of June having kept it until well after the tax disc was due for renewal, thinking that if there was any problem (and if there is, I'm usually the one to experience it!), they would write to me at most 1 month after my tax disc had expired (how naive was I?). When I didn't get anything from them, I naturally assumed that I didn't need to keep the letter.

I am so upset over this, I am on a very low wage & can't afford extra expenses. I am appalled that the onus is on me to keep hold of paperwork indefinitely because the DVLA is so incompetent.

I am also worried that if they disregard my appeal, I will end up having to pay £80 instead of £40, or going to court to prove my innocence. Why should I beat myself up over throwing that letter away, after waiting 2 months for them to contact me if there was any problem?

I had months of drawn out red tape with the DVLA for the very same reason and i sent my relevant V5 document also.... grrrrrr!!! make you so cross,

harveybobbles

If the DVLA have issued you the standard letter thanking you for notifying them that you're no longer the keeper, then ask them to look out thier copy. As it will have your name, your address, the car details and a date.
Thje fact you've thrown the letter away shouldn't be a real problem to be honest...

TangledMemories_2

As an ex-DVLA employee I can advise you that down in Swansea, any documents received be it V10s, logbooks, SORNs etc are scanned and kept in the endless labyrinth down there. Your DVLA local office would be able to check on the system to see if there is a record of change of keeper and the date it was recorded. They can then request a copy of the microfilm.

Therefore, instead of dealing with Swansea, I'd speak to the local office.
However, be prepared to have to pay the fine. If you pay the fine within an allotted time, it's £40.