Tax disc fine after paid, but DVLA website allows for 14 days??

I,_Brian

I registered for my tax disc a week late - I can provide excuses but won't.

And got a 20N for £60 today for not displaying a valid tax disc.

I accept not showing a tax disc is a penalty offence. And I would have kept the car off the road until it arrived.

HOWEVER, when I registered my tax disc at direct.gov/taxdisc, there was a clear statement to the effect that they appreciate tax discs may be late - therefore they allowed 14 days from the end of the disc expiry, which I had taken to mean you could have an out of date disc for 14 days after expiration of the previous one before it became an offence.

Which is why I parked it in a public street today.

However, I'm not able to find the statement on the DVLA website at present, and feel somewhat misled.

Anyone want to enlighten me?

System

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_10034732

Tax or SORN your vehicle online

If you are taxing your vehicle online or by telephone over the bank holiday the disc could take up to five working days to be delivered. You can still use your vehicle until midnight 9 January 2012 but must display your new disc from 10 January 2012

So it looks as though they only allow 5 working days max

Orford

Five days not 14 and only if you apply on line or post before the old tax expires:

If you use the electronic vehicle licensing service or tax by post at the end of the month, there’s now an exemption for not displaying a tax disc. This exemption covers the first five working days of the month to allow time for the new disc to arrive in the post. While you are still waiting for your tax disc you will need to display your current tax disc. The exemption only applies if applications are made before the current tax disc or SORN expires.

I,_Brian

No, that's not the message I saw - it was during the payment process that the notice came up about 14 days. It was a very specific message.

HO87

Thanks !!!!!!. The so-called universal 14-day "grace period" is a myth. There were and continue to be a number of local arrangements but its not universal.

McKneff

Go through the motions to the page you thought you saw, take a screen shot and put it on here.

give_them_FA

Does DVLA actually enforce these penalties anyway? In my experience they farm them out to debt collection agencies, who are easily fobbed off if you never reply. (Sound familiar?)

Orford

give_them_FA wrote: »

Does DVLA actually enforce these penalties anyway?

It's not clear who issued the £60 fine, I suspect it may be a police FPN.

I,_Brian

Ok, just rang DVLA to ask about this - apparently what 14 day notice is actually about how you are given 14 days after the tax disc expiry, to repare documents and renew, before you *must* declare SORN. What I didn't see mention of was that apparently the car must not be on the road during this time.

The irony is that the tax disc came when I was work.

Just. So. F***ing. Annoying. I've just been taxed twice.

give_them_FA

Was it a police FPN? If you taxed back to the beginning of the month before it was issued, but were waiting for the disc, you never know, if you query it you MIGHT get a sympathetic response. Maybe.

I,_Brian

It was a police FPN, and when you renew your car tax, so far as I understand it, the renewal date carries on from the previous expiry date only.