DVLA SORN - Reclaiming unfair charges ?

scbk

If you want to park it on a public road it HAS to be taxed or it'll get clamped/towed. If you have a vehicle (or remains of one) with a logbook sat at the bottom of the garden and it isn't taxed or SORN'd, they'll send you a fine. If you do SORN it, after a year the SORN runs out but they won't tell/remind you, just fine you when it does.

tripled

A few weeks after my MOT the brakes failed on my car... nothing to stop me taxing my car for the next 18 months though.

No. You only have to declare it SORN to keep it on a public road. Not private property.

My understanding was if your vehicle isn't taxed, you can't keep it on a public road, SORNed or not.

southernscouser

scbk wrote: »

If you want to park it on a public road it HAS to be taxed or it'll get clamped/towed. If you have a vehicle (or remains of one) with a logbook sat at the bottom of the garden and it isn't taxed or SORN'd, they'll send you a fine. If you do SORN it, after a year the SORN runs out but they won't tell/remind you, just fine you when it does.

My mistake!

But still. Better than having more deathtraps on the road surely!

vaio

southernscouser wrote: »

…..But still. Better than having more death-traps on the road surely!

Nobody is arguing about death-traps or even driving untaxed cars on the road, both should be punished....the point I was making is that it's unfair to fine me for not sending a letter in to confirm the rotten Mark 2 jag in my garage with no engine won’t be driven on the road.

What’s next? I get fined if I don’t confirm I’m not going shop lifting next weekend? (silly I know but the principle is the same)

Newtgobbler

My peniless but law-abiding son (the other's a plod) was gutted when his '89 Escort terminally failed it's MOT about 4 months ago. He immediately took the car off the road and surrrendered the tax disc, recieving a small refund. He needed transport to commute to his underpaid job to support his partner and new baby (violins please) so I had to shell out on a runabout for him.

About three weeks ago he received a demand for £80 for not having done the SORN thing - which he duly scratched together and paid like the good citizen he is. He did not receive the DVLA tax/SORN reminder, having recently changed address.

I understand it's the law - but that doesn't make it right. How many similar instances are there where you can be personally fined for not writing to someone certifying that you are not going to break another particular law?

And, as with the bank charges scam, is there any relation between the size of the fine and the cost (admin etc.) of the 'crime'?

And surely the act of filling out a form and surrendering the tax disc should count as 'notification' in a case like this?

There must be better ways of controlling tax dodgers than persecuting and fleecing the innocents. And is there any chance of redress?

anewman

To those who have a car SORN for more than 12 months - it's sitting there doing nothing - can I have your car please?

Lakeuk

I managed to get a refund on a SORN fine some years back.

What I hate about a fine of this sort is that they are targetting at you paying the fine straight away without complaint whether innocent or guilty by the clause that if you don't agree with the fine and fail the contest then you'll be fined an increased amount.

MarkyMarkD

That sort of arrangement isn't unreasonable IMHO. It means that those who know they are guilty, and pay up quickly, get an incentive to get it sorted. And those who know they are guilty, and try it on, get penalised.

It makes people less likely to raise marginal challenges too - i.e. where they've got some sort of excuse which isn't copper-bottomed.

exel1966

scbk wrote: »

AFAIK the DVLA send no reminder asking you to re-sorn, they just expect you to remember every year.

Oh YES they do !! Had a car OTR for 3 years now and each year get a reminder to Tax it or declare SORN.

pinkfluffybabe

tripled wrote: »

Funnily enough I posted a similar thread last year. I never received the reminder, and even though I was only joking about reclaiming the charge (which I thought I'd made pretty obvious), it's amazing how many people got on their high horse about it.

I specifically remember a comment just like yours Keith, perhaps it was in fact you? And my answer would be pretty much the same now as it was then... people do not sit on the bonnet of their car on the passenger side facing towards the boot staring at the windscreen, I for one in fact sit in my car on the driver's side looking out the front. Regretfully the tax disc is on the opposite side of the car to me in a holder, so I do not in fact see anything displaying the date or reminding me to buy one. Perhaps I should put a big notice in my field of vision to remind me? Who wants to look where they are going when driving anyway? I'd better start a number 10 petition for it to become law...

It was me actually

And I still stand by the fact that if you are big enough to drive a car on the road, you are big enough to remember to tax (or sorn), MOT and insure it.

Not being able to see the disc when you are driving isn't really an excuse. Do you know your car reg? How? You don't see that from a driving position either yet most folk tend to know it. Equally when you walk towards your car, you can see your tax disc and the big numbers written on that tell you when it runs out.

Use Martin's tart alert if you want reminding. Otherwise don't gripe when you get caught out.