DVLA Action

TheRock

Evening all.
Firstly a bit of background on this story, hopefully someone might be able to help out.
A few months ago i SORNed my car as i have a company car, i called the DVLA and asked if i could park the car on the side of the road as my road is not adopted by the council and not maintained by the tax payer and therefore a private road (for reference the car is still MOT's and Insured) the DVLA person agreed so i left my car outside my house to stop the munsters (neighbours) parking infront of my house. My company car would be parked in my 1 allocated parking space.
Two weeks ago I came back from work to find NSL acting on behalf of the DVLA have clamped my car and wanted £260 to take the clamp off and i had to tax my car tax them the tax disc etc so paid that got £160 back (a surety fee i believe).
I have today received a letter from the DVLA asking for £107 as an out of court settlement, this is where my defence begins.
The letter states "on the 08/02/2011 we recieved an offence report that the above vehicle was seen on xyz drive....." the xyz drive is in fact a different road to where my car was parked. So factually the report is incorrect, so if i went to court with their 'evidence' then surely i would win as their 'facts' are incorrect?
Obviously i dont want to correct the DVLA on the letter they sent me incase they ammend it, but will they provide the offence report or is that for their eyes only?
hopefully this had made sense and the DVLA can kiss my face.

Regards
The Rock

forgotmyname

I doubt a simple mistake road/drive etc would make it unenforcable. Do the road signs state private road
and have any type of barrier?

Going to court is always risky. Take proper legal advice 1st.

Hammyman

forgotmyname wrote: »

I doubt a simple mistake road/drive etc would make it unenforcable.

Why not? It does for every other motoring offence.

spiro

A quote from the DVLA website, note the bit I have emboldened:

Using or keeping a vehicle on a public road

A public road is a road maintained at the public expense, including grass verges and ground adjoining the road. Contact your local authority if you have any doubt about an area where you want to park your vehicle. All vehicles that are used or kept on a public road must be taxed and must display a valid tax disc at all times.

Suggest you contact the council to get their view on the status of the road. Many years ago, for a private road to remain private it had to be closed (official announcement in local paper) for 24hrs every few years to all but residents cars. If you did not comply you lost the 'private' status.

Hintza

Slight aside.

But surely if it is not a private road then the council need to adopt it and maintain it?

(Note:- I am assuming it is not a public right of way)

spiro

Hintza wrote: »

Slight aside.

But surely if it is not a private road then the council need to adopt it and maintain it?

(Note:- I am assuming it is not a public right of way)

I think its the other way round, the road has to be up to an acceptable standard before the council take over maintenance. Thats why they inspect new housing estates before they take them on.

DirectDebacle

spiro wrote: »

I think its the other way round, the road has to be up to an acceptable standard before the council take over maintenance. Thats why they inspect new housing estates before they take them on.

Quite right but slightly off topic. All that matters is whether the road is maintained at public expense. If it is, VEL required. If not, then no requirement.

OP needs in writing from L.A. if his road is repairable at public expense or not.

If not then he can have some fun with the DVLA. Ensure that all letters written to the DVLA are sent recorded delivery. DVLA have a history of losing/denying receipt of correspondence.

Strider590

DVLA send the ANPR vans out to comb streets where sorned vehicles are registered....... But these guys won't know what's private and whats not, so if you can prove it's private land your in the clear.

The DVLA have however issued a fine and they WILL NOT back down short of going to (and often losing in) court.

No matter what excuse you have, you'll get standard threatening letters from "Mrs P Wooley", who I should add would be dead in a ditch if she existed at all (there are probably assassination contracts on her head)..... But stick to your guns and if your correct about the road then let them take it to court.

DVLA are parasites, why do they insist on punishing innocent people instead of clamping down on all these foreign drivers who've no tax or insurance?!?!?!?!?!

TheRock

I have it confirmed in writing that the LA are not responsible for the maintenance of the road, which probably explains why they havent ever sent anyone out to cut the grass verges repair lights etc etc. the road is maintained by private contractors through the devolopers.
the point is they have got the road names wrong on the letter they have sent me, I have now asked to see an offence report if this matches up and they class this as evidence then i am off on a technicality as they have got their facts wrong, going to court is all about getting the facts right.....i think.

Wig

Your first mistake was to pay the to get the clamp removed. You should have told them that they were tresspassing on your property and got them to remove the clamp, or you would sue them for the tresspass or maybe call the police.

But now you have a slight problem, you need to get rid of the DVLA demand and you need a refund of the clamp removal fee. What do they owe you? £100? You could SORN again and refund the tax disc, so incurring a small loss for the months it was taxed.

The DVLA photgraph the cars they clamp, now I am not sure if they photo when clamped or only just before hoisting onto the lorry, you need to check that, the photo will prove where it was parked, IF you can get your hands on it.

The problem will be -if you can't get the photo- persuading the DVLA that it was not at XYZ street, but it was outside your house.

You were quite lawfully parked outside your house and there should have been no clamping done. Hindsight (is a wonderful thing) would say you should have photo'd the car/clamp outside your house yourself.

You might want to check if XYZ street is adopted, if it also is not adopted you are home and dry, demand they drop the claim and refund you the £100, or you will be suing them.

Once you can prove it was clamped outside your house, or if you can't do that, persuade the DVLA over the phone/in writing that it was outside your house not at XYZ street, you will get the case dropped. If you can do niether of these two things, you will have to fight them in court and hope the judge sides with you on the vehicle location.

Wig

spiro wrote: »

Many years ago, for a private road to remain private it had to be closed (official announcement in local paper) for 24hrs every few years to all but residents cars. If you did not comply you lost the 'private' status.

Has to be closed 1 day a year, not sure about the requirement of a public notice, I would have thought all that was required was it to be closed for the day, the barriers would be enough "public notice".

In anycase, the road for the OP does not have to be "private" it can be a "public road", i.e. a road to which the public have unfettered access, The only requirement is that it is "a road not maintained at public expense".