Fine from dvla -please help

aban4803

Hi can some one please help me.

My road tax run out in march and during that time I was heavily pregnant and had operation and was in hospital, I did not use my car at all as it was parked in my driveway.

I have now received a reminder letter from the dvla stating that I have to pay a fine of £80 for taxing the vehicle even though know the vehicle is taxed.

Is there a way I can avoid paying this fine.

Please help me as I am very stressed and worried.

Any sample letters to send to DVLA will be much appreciated.

Many thanx

paddedjohn

even though you have taxed the car, the fine is for taxing it late and not sorning it, you could try writing to the dvla explaining the circumstances but they act as a law unto themselves.

cyclonebri1

aban4803 wrote: »

Is there a way I can avoid paying this fine.

Fraid not, they've heard all the excuses and the genuine reasons. Quite simply they apply the system, hand in pocket time as said.:o

HappyMJ

It's not a fine...Read the notice carefully. It's a penalty. If they wish to enforce it they will have to take you to court. In my experience that have not done that as yet. You have to weigh up the risks of ignoring it or paying it. They will write to you lots of times and as long as you calmly ignore each letter they will give up. I would ignore it and if its taken to court then be prepared to pay up. If you have no income then offer a token payment of a couple of pounds per week. It's been said they are a law unto themselves. They don't accept your appeals for leniency and they basically don't care if the post never arrived.

The reason is appeals aren't accepted is that you simply taxed the car late that's it you could have been in a coma they don't care. There is no appeal.

cyclonebri1

HappyMJ wrote: »

It's not a fine...Read the notice carefully. It's a penalty. There is no appeal.

What's the difference then, whilst I accept that parking penalties can be just that or they can be invoices which can be ignored, I don't get the "financial" difference between a fine and a penalty?????

HappyMJ

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

What's the difference then, whilst I accept that parking penalties can be just that or they can be invoices which can be ignored, I don't get the "financial" difference between a fine and a penalty?????

Courts impose fines. Departments of government and agencies of government such as the DVLA impose penalties. A fine has consequences such as prison if it goes unpaid. A penalty does not. If you don't pay it then they must take you to court where a judge who impartially looks at the case will decide if it is worthy of a fine or a CCJ. As you have explained you were in hospital I would imagine the judge would not impose a fine or CCJ and would simply tell DVLA to withdraw the penalty.

Rover_Driver

Not quite, the Late Licensing Penalty - s.7A, Vehicles Excise & Registration Act 1994 - is a treated as a civil debt and as such is dealt with at County Court.

cyclonebri1

HappyMJ wrote: »

Courts impose fines. Departments of government and agencies of government such as the DVLA impose penalties. A fine has consequences such as prison if it goes unpaid. A penalty does not. If you don't pay it then they must take you to court where a judge who impartially looks at the case will decide if it is worthy of a fine or a CCJ. As you have explained you were in hospital I would imagine the judge would not impose a fine or CCJ and would simply tell DVLA to withdraw the penalty.

So basically a fine is final and failing to pay could lead to jail, and a penalty unpaid gets judged and could lead to jail. That's a retorical question based on earlier posts if I'm/they're correct

Looks like the OP needs to decide whether to gamble or not , trusting that if the case is taken to court the judge rules in favour of the op. Court costs if lost need to be considered.;)

McKneff

OP, you have nothing to lose by ringing them apart from the cost of a telephone call.

I know its 10 year ago but my husband started with major problems having operations on his eyes, he was a decorator
so the stress to us and the family was enormous, his van didnt get taxed because we had lots of other things on our minds,
The DVLA sent us one of these penalities and when I rang them and explained the circumstances they waived it.

Like I say, don't ask, don't get. and if they do waive it ask them to send you confirmation by email or post just to be sure.

Good luck.

Rover_Driver

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

So basically a fine is final and failing to pay could lead to jail, and a penalty unpaid gets judged and could lead to jail. That's a retorical question based on earlier posts if I'm/they're correct

Looks like the OP needs to decide whether to gamble or not , trusting that if the case is taken to court the judge rules in favour of the op. Court costs if lost need to be considered.;)

Non payment of a fine, which would be from a Magistrates or Crown Court, can lead to jail.

Non payment of the Late Licensing Penalty - a debt, is heard in County Court and can lead to a CCJ, bailiffs, etc.

Strider590

aban4803 wrote: »

Hi can some one please help me.

My road tax run out in march and during that time I was heavily pregnant and had operation and was in hospital, I did not use my car at all as it was parked in my driveway.

I have now received a reminder letter from the dvla stating that I have to pay a fine of £80 for taxing the vehicle even though know the vehicle is taxed.

Is there a way I can avoid paying this fine.

Please help me as I am very stressed and worried.

Any sample letters to send to DVLA will be much appreciated.

Many thanx

You can't avoid it, they're got every door covered, once they issue a fine/penalty they won't let it go, short of taking it to court (where they normally lose).

Even if you manage to get around all the rules and possible reasons to continue the fine and you think "i've won!!", they'll probably send you a fine for having an unregistered hamster ball (or whatever else they dream up).