dvla taking me to court

rossjohn

today i recieved a court summons from the dvla so need abit of advice

in july bought a car had to wait 4 weeks for logbook as previous owner didnt sent it off it came back on 28th so on 2nd august i taxed car would have done it sooner but working away. anyways dvla clamped my car on the 5th two days after i taxed the car. so i rang dvla they agreed they screwd up so within an hour it was free'd lol. a month later the dvla in poole sent a letter asking for 200£ for the pleasure of it all. so after a few phone calls they asked me fax the tax disk over which i did. i heard nothing after that so thought everything was ok until today when summons arrived.

so basically iv done nothing wrong and really dont need this just before my daughters birthday and xmas so any advice on how to handle it will be very helpful thanks

atrixblue.-MFR-.

rossjohn wrote: »

today i recieved a court summons from the dvla so need abit of advice

in july bought a car had to wait 4 weeks for logbook as previous owner didnt sent it off it came back on 28th so on 2nd august i taxed car would have done it sooner but working away. anyways dvla clamped my car on the 5th two days after i taxed the car. so i rang dvla they agreed they screwd up so within an hour it was free'd lol. a month later the dvla in poole sent a letter asking for 200£ for the pleasure of it all. so after a few phone calls they asked me fax the tax disk over which i did. i heard nothing after that so thought everything was ok until today when summons arrived.

so basically iv done nothing wrong and really dont need this just before my daughters birthday and xmas so any advice on how to handle it will be very helpful thanks

on purchase of the car did the previous keeper give you the logbook v5c greenslip? if so you could be liable for those fours weeks of no tax as you can tax the car with it with your MOT and policy cert at any post office unless it was a motability vehicle, in wich case you would have had to attend a DVLA district office to have the details of vehicle class changed then get the tax the same time with you other documents.

if you werent handed the green slip and had no way of taxing the car (because you had no knowladge the previous keeper didnt send it in) and your car was kept off the road and declaired SORN by DVLA guidlines (you could declair sorn at their website), the DVLA are in the wrong. if it was kept on the road and consequintly clamped or kept on your drive with no declaration of SORN they have the rights to clamp or remove the vehicle under new legislation brought in a few months back.

your argument here is that they clamped your car at the time it was taxed, and have now charged you for their mistake, but the DVLA may have a case of non declaration of SORN during the period of purchase to tax date (sorn flag is removed upon purchasing tax) wich if this is not part of their case (details will be in the bundle papers your issued) they will have to arrange another court hearing.

so basically if their issued court proceeding just for costs of clamping and removal because they clamped you during the time the car was infact taxed, wich your tax disc will prove they did with the tax receipt, they have no case, turn up defend that issue and win.

zzzLazyDaisy

Was your car actually displaying the tax disc at the time it was clamped? Because the offence is failing to display a tax disc, not failing to pay for one. (It just seems strange that they would clamp a car that had a valid tax disc in the windscreen)

paddedjohn

was the car taxed during september and you retaxed it on august 2nd or did you keep the car untaxed and not sorned for the month? if the latter then they may be after you for 1) the back tax and 2) not declaring sorn.

rossjohn

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

on purchase of the car did the previous keeper give you the logbook v5c greenslip? if so you could be liable for those fours weeks of no tax as you can tax the car with it with your MOT and policy cert at any post office unless it was a motability vehicle, in wich case you would have had to attend a DVLA district office to have the details of vehicle class changed then get the tax the same time with you other documents.

if you werent handed the green slip and had no way of taxing the car (because you had no knowladge the previous keeper didnt send it in) and your car was kept off the road and declaired SORN by DVLA guidlines (you could declair sorn at their website), the DVLA are in the wrong. if it was kept on the road and consequintly clamped or kept on your drive with no declaration of SORN they have the rights to clamp or remove the vehicle under new legislation brought in a few months back.

your argument here is that they clamped your car at the time it was taxed, and have now charged you for their mistake, but the DVLA may have a case of non declaration of SORN during the period of purchase to tax date (sorn flag is removed upon purchasing tax) wich if this is not part of their case (details will be in the bundle papers your issued) they will have to arrange another court hearing.

so basically if their issued court proceeding just for costs of clamping and removal because they clamped you during the time the car was infact taxed, wich your tax disc will prove they did with the tax receipt, they have no case, turn up defend that issue and win.

thanks but the case for non declaration of sorn as i said v5 came back on 28th so i only left it over weekend to tax so im not to worried about chasing me for 4 days tax lol

rossjohn

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Was your car actually displaying the tax disc at the time it was clamped? Because the offence is failing to display a tax disc, not failing to pay for one. (It just seems strange that they would clamp a car that had a valid tax disc in the windscreen)

yes tax was in windscreen but that rule of having to display straight away is strange what if id bought it online.only 2 days after i taxed it they clamped me. most people tax they're car on 1st of month so they've gota have time for it to come if done online.

rossjohn

paddedjohn wrote: »

was the car taxed during september and you retaxed it on august 2nd or did you keep the car untaxed and not sorned for the month? if the latter then they may be after you for 1) the back tax and 2) not declaring sorn.

the car wasnt taxed in july as i didnt have logbook to tax it or sorn it so as soon as it came i taxed it. the letter says i became registerd owner on 24th july then had to wait for v5 to tax it.

rossjohn

after a friend reading the letter he confirmed they are only taking me to court for not having tax on the 5th of august when it got clamped but the tax disc proves otherwise(the date i bought it is stamped on it). and they wouldnt have released the clamp if they didnt know i was right so all this is a load of crap trying to get me to open my wallet.

iv been told to lawyer up and wipe the floor with them

Wig

1st things first, What are they taking you to court for? What is the stated reason on the letter...

Next,
Although you had no log book you still should have stored the vehicle off the road as it had no tax....I'm not sure of the ability to declare SORN without logbook. Big Hint.... I'm sure you DID keep it off road, DIDN"T YOU....??? Because they saw your car on the 5th August So they have no way to prove you were on the road before the 5th August.

Depending on what your letter says, as I see it, you turn up in court with your tax disc, and any proof you have that they removed the clamp, and the case is thrown out.

When they clamp a car they are supposed to always photograph the car in situ, they might only photo it when they tow it away so I could be wrong there, but you could possibly ask the clamping unit for the photo if there is one and it would show you had a tax disc on display..

attrixblueMFR wrote:

or kept on your drive with no declaration of SORN they have the rights to clamp or remove the vehicle under new legislation brought in a few months back.

I'm not aware of any power to remove a non-SORN vehicle from your driveway, I am aware of an automatic £100 fine for an uninsured non SORN vehicle, wherever it may be being kept but not the power to remove it (this rule came into force earlier this year....And I am aware of the power to remove a un-SORNed & un-TAXed car from an off road location even private property but not private property adjoining and assosciated with a dwelling i.e. a driveway - this power came in a couple of years ago........
could you explain your quote please?

vax2002

You may be better using a vexatious prosecution defence, Plead not guilty that DVLA are fully aware that the car was taxed on the date they claim it was not, that DVLA themselves hold the records as to and when the excise licence is paid and despite this been pointed out to them several times they still insist on wasting the courts time with this prosecution.
You must be prepared to appeal as magistrates don't like to challenge official authority and can be like glove puppets so you may have to appeal to some real judges before common sense begins to be applied.
Park the vehicle off road and take the original tax disk to court as evidence,state you intend to question the DVLA representative as a witness, place the DVLA representative in to the witness box and ask them to verify that the tax disk they have been presented to is a genuine item, next question should be:
can you read out the dates on that disk to the court please, can you read the date out to the court of the stamp please, then next question should be,
on what date do you claim the vehicle to not have excise licence ?
Next
Does this vehicle excise licence cover the vehicle for this date ?
Next
In your opinion, did the vehicle have a correct excise licence on the date the DVLA claim it did not ?
Would it be correct to say that DVLA holds the records of all vehicles that have paid excise duty licence ?
Is it normal procedure to clamp peoples cars that are displaying a valid excises duty licence ?
Do the DVLA or its contractors have any Legal or Lawful power to clamp a vehicle that is correctly displaying a valid excise duty licence. Y?N
So under what legislation or act of parliament were the clamper's acting when they clamped the vehicle, can you quote any ?
Have you checked DVLA records before attending court to see if the vehicle had an excise duty licence prior to attending court today ?
If NO.. Who holds these records, is it the DVLA ? Who do you represent at court today ? is it normal practice to prosecute a case without even looking at your own records prior to attending court ?
If YES To above : Did you not think it appropriate in that case not to withdraw your prosecution if you were aware that your own records stated that the vehicle you claim not to hold excise licence in fact did have excise licence ?
If by your own knowledge the vehicle had a valid excise duty licence, can you explain to the court your reason for prosecuting when you clearly know the evidence held by yourself to contradict your case ?
Have you heard of the legal saying a "vexatious prosecution " ?
Is this not a Vexatious prosecution, after all you have access to the records that will prove or disprove the case ?
Is
Next : how do you think the evidence you have seen and examined before this court reflects upon the case you are prosecuting.
Insist upon an answer: keep asking until the question is Answered:
No further questions

rossjohn

Wig wrote: »

1st things first, What are they taking you to court for? What is the stated reason on the letter...

Next,
Although you had no log book you still should have stored the vehicle off the road as it had no tax....I'm not sure of the ability to declare SORN without logbook. Big Hint.... I'm sure you DID keep it off road, DIDN"T YOU....??? Because they saw your car on the 5th August So they have no way to prove you were on the road before the 5th August.

Depending on what your letter says, as I see it, you turn up in court with your tax disc, and any proof you have that they removed the clamp, and the case is thrown out.

When they clamp a car they are supposed to always photograph the car in situ, they might only photo it when they tow it away so I could be wrong there, but you could possibly ask the clamping unit for the photo if there is one and it would show you had a tax disc on display..


I'm not aware of any power to remove a non-SORN vehicle from your driveway, I am aware of an automatic £100 fine for an uninsured non SORN vehicle, wherever it may be being kept but not the power to remove it (this rule came into force earlier this year....And I am aware of the power to remove a un-SORNed & un-TAXed car from an off road location even private property but not private property adjoining and assosciated with a dwelling i.e. a driveway - this power came in a couple of years ago........
could you explain your quote please?

thanks they only took photo when they came to release the car so they said. i asked dvla when i rang to check on v5 what to do and they said you have no power to do anything until v5 is in my name so couldnt sorn or tax. the car was actually in my garage until it was taxed just incase i had a fine lol