car tax fine for scrapped vehicle?

louise*_2

not sure if i am posying in the correct place but here goes

*husband sold car for £50 scrap on 30/12/09
*tax was due to be up on 31/12/09
*informed dvla by sending them slip from log book confirming sold for scrap
*moved home in feb 2010 notified dvla of change of address at this time for licences log book of new car etc
*received redirected mail from old address saying we had to tax above sold car
*again contacted them informing change of address and received a letter of acknowledgement 16/04/10 that we are no longer registered keepers of this car (still to old address)

we thought it was now finished and our acknowledgement letter stated that we should ignore any further reminders from them regarding this vehicle.
our mail re-direction for old address finished in may 2010.
on saturday our old letting agent called to say we had mail to collect assuming it was all junk we collected and have a big pile of debt collection agency letters all related to this above car,
dvla letter dated 19/05/2010 final notification for an £80 penalty for failure to tax above car followed by 5 debt collection agency letters saying dvla have passed the debt to them and they are taking us to court.
today we ahve contacted both dvla and dca dvla say its now nothing to do with them we had to contact dca and they say we ARE liable for the £80 and must pay them!
where do we stand? in my eyes we have done everything correctly and by the book?
sorry if this is a long post

louise*_2

i have the receipt still from the company we sold the car too it all seemed official the car was taken away on the back of a recovery vehicle and we were given a receipt.
i am just not sure where to go from here, it seems very unfair that we have to pay the £80 fine (which we really can't afford) our own car tax is up at the end of this month when we have done nothing wrong?

Hintza

OP you need to do more research into this the DVLA have been shown to be fairl incompetant in this respect. Try honestjohn for advice. They have been taken to court over this and lost quite a few times in the past year.

But I would suggest you gather all your evidence right them a letter enclsing photo copies of your evidence and invite them to take you to court.

louise*_2

is honest john another website?
do you mean writing to dvla with regards to this as they seem to have washed their hands of us and suggested we contact the dca who are handling this now and not them?

peachyprice

I don't think they can just wash their hands of you. If the debt is in dispute the DCA will have to pass it back to DVLA. I suggest you write to the DCA heading the letter 'IN DISPUTE' and expalin why you do not acknowlege the debt.

louise*_2

thanks i plan to write this letter tonight and photocopy all my letters and send it off.

fluffnutter

louise* wrote: »

is honest john another website?
do you mean writing to dvla with regards to this as they seem to have washed their hands of us and suggested we contact the dca who are handling this now and not them?

Honest John is a columnist who writes about motoring in The Telegraph. There's also a website (https://www.honestjohn.co.uk) with dedicated motoring advice and forums. You could also try moving this to the motoring forum on MSE.

dje154

i used to work for a government department so i know the procedure a computer has not been updated due to missing post etc you can go to your local dvla office with your documentation proving your case and an advisor will update the system or photocopy everything and send it to dvla recorded delivery

louise*_2

a wee update this is my reply from the legal person on honest john website

"If you notify a change of details to the DVLA then you are legally responsible unless you receive an acknowledgement from them within 28 days stating the change has been made.

You could challenge them but - wrong as it may seem - I don't think you would win.

Lucy
ASK Honest John advisor"

So i don't think we are going to win this one, it seems that we never received an acknowledgement from the original tear off yellow slip sent from the log book confirming we had sold the vehichle on to be dismantled.
hence the query on car tax that prompted us to send letter and receipt from scrap company that gave us the acknowledgement letter we have now dated 19/04/10.
we have no proof that we sent the tear off slip back, all we have is our receipt dated 30/12/09 from the scrap company?
gutted :-(

Gunarysarge

louise* wrote: »

a wee update this is my reply from the legal person on honest john website

"If you notify a change of details to the DVLA then you are legally responsible unless you receive an acknowledgement from them within 28 days stating the change has been made.

You could challenge them but - wrong as it may seem - I don't think you would win.

Lucy
ASK Honest John advisor"

So i don't think we are going to win this one, it seems that we never received an acknowledgement from the original tear off yellow slip sent from the log book confirming we had sold the vehichle on to be dismantled.
hence the query on car tax that prompted us to send letter and receipt from scrap company that gave us the acknowledgement letter we have now dated 19/04/10.
we have no proof that we sent the tear off slip back, all we have is our receipt dated 30/12/09 from the scrap company?
gutted :-(

The receipt you have is all the evidence you need. You do not have to tax a car you no longer own. Keep that receipt safe and send the dept collection people and dvla a photocopy of this along with a letter explaining the situation. They should rite this dept off but in the worst case this may go to court but I doubt it.

Had a problem similar to yours and it took us months to prove we no longer had the vehicle even though it was a riteoff lol.

Hope you get it sorted soon. Sarge