Problems with DVLA

hartcjhart

as for the other old chestnut DVLA use about the V5 reg doc, I suggest that you keep this in your favourites


http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?234620

Wig

Cyril wrote: »

No definitely not outside his house, there is no parking as you are directly on the road. The car was trailered to the car park and apparently didn't come off the trailer so it didn't touch the ground even, also the jeep pulling the trailer was taxed so it seems very unfair IMO.

Actually the initial letter says a road name but it was never on a road, the car park is for the beach.

The car did have a current MOT and insurance which can be check if need be.
Are you able to refer me to any judgements / cases that i could quote in my letter or where it confirms a car park is not a road.

"Car park is not a road" as found by these 5 Lords
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199798/ldjudgmt/jd981022/clarke01.htm

VERA (1994)
(1) A duty of excise ( “vehicle excise duty") shall be charged in respect of every mechanically propelled vehicle that— (a) is registered under this Act (see section 21), or

(b) is not so registered but is used, or kept, on a public road in the United Kingdom.

I know for a fact that "public road" is defined somewhere as "a road maintained at public expense" but I can't find the relevant definition or regulations anywhere.... I'm working on it... However it is only a minor point, it has to be a road first and then one repaired at public expense, in your case it is not even "a road", it is a car park. Can we have a google sat image of the car park in question? are ther car park signs at the entrance to the car park, so that it is unmistakeably a car park?

BTW if your car never left the trailer it wasn't even parked in a car park. The trailer was parked in a car park not the car. They can't win on this one. Ask them who spotted the car and in exactly what location and in what manner, what evidence they have.

Sounds like some numpty has reported this to DVLA, someone who hasn't got a clue, and the DVLA haven't bothered to clarify/investigate the circumstances and just issued you the letter.

Wig

hartcjhart wrote: »

If as you say they now accept that the car was sorn'd,then write to them providing proof that the car was at no time on a 'public highway' so therefore no offence has been commited.
you will need a letter from your mechanic to back you up.

if they still try to insist you pay then let them take you to court,BUT only as long as your mechanic will back you up,

A few years back the customs&excise peeps sent me a fine for keeping an 'unlicensed'motor vehicle on a public highway,I declined the offer to pay and told them to take me to court which the duly did,
just before the hearing I offered their solicitor the chance to stop proceedings,but no,they were hell bent on continuing.

went into court they said their bit and I gave the 'bench' a letter from my mechanic stating that there was no engine in the car so in law was not a motor propelled vehicle, case dropped and costs awarded to me.:T:T:T

so they can be beaten

It wouldn't work now, as the VERA 1994 has been ammended with 1A, 1B to say "a motor propelled vehicle includes any vehicle which was at any time a motor propelled vehicle"

(1A) Vehicle excise duty shall also be charged in respect of every thing (whether or not it is a vehicle) that has been, but has ceased to be, a mechanically propelled vehicle and—
(a) is registered under this Act, or
(b) is not so registered but is used, or kept, on a public road in the United Kingdom.

(1B) In the following provisions of this Act “vehicle" means—
(a) a mechanically propelled vehicle, or
(b) any thing (whether or not it is a vehicle) that has been, but has ceased to be, a mechanically propelled vehicle.

Wig

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Problem is if the private land eg pub car park, is accessible to the public then they have got the right to do you. Only if the private land is gated etc and not accessible to the public are they stumped.

Not true. Has to be a road maintained at public expense.


Interestingly:
If the vehicle is not registered then it can be clamped and impounded from any land even private land except areas associated with a dwelling.

Cyril

Thankyou very much WIG.

Am going to write on monday and see what happens. It seems from other people they will screw me into the ground anyway but I can but try.

Strider590

^^ Mrs P Woolley does not exist by the way, if she did, she'd have been terminated by now.

Wig

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

Had your MOT expired?You are allowed to drive the car to have work carried out for an MOT without tax, but it must be insured.Not sure about it being parked in a car park though as it would normally be on the private land of the garage.

Only if it has first failed an MOT. You must first take an MOT then if it fails it can be driven to a place of repair, for the purpose of repairing those faults which failed the MOT. You can't drive to repair faults prior to taking an MOT.

I don't know if there is a regulations definition of "a place of repair" but I have always assumed it includes your or your friends driveway.

WhiteHorse

True car park is not usually a road. That's why if you call out the AA, RAC etc to a broken down vehicle on a car park, they may ask you who owns it and if you can obtain permission for them to 'come onto the land'.

anotherbaldrick

Hey Cyril.
I would put money on your car having been zapped by a patroling Police Car and their automatic numberplate recognition system dinged up that it had just registered an unlicensed car . By virtue of that their was (possibly automatic) download of the location to the DVLA system . No one at the issuing end is aware the car was on a trailer at the time. TELL THEM>

Wig

What's happening Cyril?