DVLA offering me an out of court settlement.. for £491?!!!

tomyblu

Thank-you, I've now posted it to pepipoo.. I'll let you know of the result!

Hammyman

tomyblu wrote: »

Please with the recrimination! The car was completely legally SORN for over a year, I made the mistake of leaving it on the road after the MOT, I shouldn't be fined for the whole period it was legally SORN'd.

Should I call my local DVLA and try to explain things to them? The only number on the letter is the payment centre.

You're not being fined for the whole period - you are being fined for the offence of keeping a SORN'd car on the road.

By all means phone the DVLA but I don't know what you're going to say as it doesn't matter if its a day or a year.

mandym

The first fine would have been paid to the clampers, NSL who are under contract to the DVLA. The fine is the bit left after you produced a valid tax disc and got your surety back. They then send a report to the DVLA stating when and where the vehicle was seen.

The DVLA then send out an out of court settlement which is made up of a fine (on a sliding scale dependent on how long the vehicle's been untaxed - could be more for a SORNed vehicle?) and any back tax owed which is what you're now being asked to pay.

telboyo

Just pay the fine or have your car crushed- you broke the law by having a car on the road when you had declared it to be off road- a blatant lie. You say the car broke down. Now you know what to do if this situation arises again, get a breakdown company to move the car or cancel the sorn and tax the car. Either way it is cheaper than breaking the law.
If you want a car you have to follow the rules.

Wig

telboyo wrote: »

Just pay the fine or have your car crushed- you broke the law by having a car on the road when you had declared it to be off road- a blatant lie. You say the car broke down. Now you know what to do if this situation arises again, get a breakdown company to move the car or cancel the sorn and tax the car. Either way it is cheaper than breaking the law.
If you want a car you have to follow the rules.

And you bumped this old thread because.............?

Pity there was no update from the OP.
I would think a judge would be lenient on OP if the car broke down on the way back from an MOT test. He was at that time legitimately on the road whilst SORN. Question is how long was it between the MOT and getting clamped? That would be important information for the judge.