Court Summons from DVLA - Great!

Exemplar

Got a court summons this morning from DVLA...

They state (well my local Nottingham office states) that I didnt inform them of a change of ownership in April 2010 when I sold my old Ford Focus.

I sent off the V5 the day after (but kept a scanned copy).

In December I got a letter from my local office saying that I had sold the car and that I needed to explain what had happened and why I had not informed them. In this letter they 'generously' offered me the opportunity of giving then £55 to make the matter go away. I declined and filled in the section on the back and sent it, with another copy of the scanned V5 stating that I had sold it but had sent off the V5 (all signatures on it, time and date!).

Then this morning I get the summons..

Bar-Stewards!

peter_the_piper

If you have sent the v5 off to them then you have fulfilled your part of the bargain.Its not your problem that they did not action it, this assumes that RM delivered it. They will say that you should have checked after 4 weeks but this is not necessary. They will normally say that anything sent to you is deemed by them to have been received by you so the same applies in reverse. I suggest that you also post this on pepipoo.com for more help.

soup

I know its too late now but always send this type of thing as a 'signed for' delivery, its worth the extra 65p or so, you can check online that it has been delivered, from what sorting office and on what date. If required you could also request the name of the person who signed for it.

Hintza

Organisations like the DVLA don't sign for stuff it will just arrives in bulk sacks. The one thing it does do of course is proves you have posted it but a COP (Cert. of Posting) would do the same and is free.

shaun_from_Africa

All that is legally required of you is to post the V5 to the DVLA. There is no requirement for you to follow up to make sure that it arrived.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/30/section/7

7 References to service by post.
Where an Act authorises or requires any document to be served by post (whether the expression “serve” or the expression “give” or “send” or any other expression is used) then, unless the contrary intention appears, the service is deemed to be effected by properly addressing, pre-paying and posting a letter containing the document and, unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.

Note that it clearly states that that it must be proven that you failed to post an item. Not that you must prove that you did so.

anotherbaldrick

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

All that is legally required of you is to post the V5 to the DVLA. There is no requirement for you to follow up to make sure that it arrived.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/30/section/7



Note that it clearly states that that it must be proven that you failed to post an item. Not that you must prove that you did so.

It also says "If you do not receive an acknowledgement from the DLVA in 4 weeks you must ring them !!!!

Strider590

Cases like this have been thrown out of court, do some searching on the web.

vax2002

Its a bluff, however Magistrates courts are a bit dumb and Authority star sruck and you may have to appeal the Mags decision, just keep stating the truth, the prosecutor will try to needle your answer over the line, so you must learn a new phrase, I believe I have already answered that question.
Buy a Diary and keep hold of your expenses, days pay lost, travel to court ect.
Also see if you are entitled to Legal Aid on the charge, ramp the bill up a bit for them, that soon makes them drop the rabbit.

vax2002

It also says "If you do not receive an acknowledgement from the DLVA in 4 weeks you must ring them !!!!

They write in legalese,not plain English "must" is synonymous with "May" So translated it says "you May ring them"

shaun_from_Africa

If you do not receive an acknowledgement from the DLVA in 4 weeks you must ring them

Where does it state that? Probably on the DVLA website. However, this is simply advice and is not law.
The quote I gave is UK law and it clearly states that by posting a letter it is deemed to have been delivered and the obligations of the sender have been fulfilled.

The DVLA can state what they like, but they can't over rule the law.
This isn't just my opinion as it has been tried and tested in the courts.
This problem seem to occur on a regular basis, and there is plenty of examples to be found where people have used the interpretations act as a legitimate defence, both with the DVLA and other government departments

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/tax/tribunal-overturns-late-return-penalty/486261

http://mobile.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=805024&r=13763817&hm=21470&mid=21470

Hammyman

Seconded. DVLA have beeen handed their azzez in court over this several times. Also it was on Watchdog and the same was said.