Court Bailiff DVLA Help

bagpuss140

Hi i am now in a bit of a pickle and need some help.
I had an with the DVLA and its got out of hand! I was summonsed for using an untaxed car, I had put it on sorn, took it into town and taxed it, while I was taxing it i got clamped, paid all the bits etc and car was unclamped, (my fault) thought it was finished. However a bailiff turned up and said i owed a huge amount over the fine and back tax, I had no idea and had not had any paperwork from the court or anyone some did the out of time declaration.
I wrote to DVLA and explained that the vehicle had been on SORN as they told the court i had not notified them, my father had posted the SORN document. I sent off all the info and statements from my father and myself, and admitted the technical offence of fail to display I didnt hear anything from DVLA Courts or bailiff until they showed up at my door again on my doorstep and the bailiff stated if I didnt pay £600+ he would call the police and force entry. i explained that i had no idea about this and that I thought it was wrong, told him the lot and he stated if I went back too court they could refund, as had I known my appeal had failed I would have paid the fine, how do i do this, help please

Stroma

I would advise going to https://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk , they charge a small fee but they can help you with this. This doesn't sound right to me but they can further advise you. Also try www.pepipoo.com , but they will probably advise the same.

taylor_alan

Contacting the Court is always a good idea. If your car was clamped then you can be liable for the following : 1. a release fee to set the vehicle free. 2 a surety fee (which you pay at the time of release and is reclaimable once you purchase a tax disc). 3. An offence of using/keeping a vehicle on the road without a valid tax disc. It's this offence that's most likely to have caused you to get a summons. You should have received a summons to Court detailing the offence and a hearing date

If you were not aware of any proceedings prior to the bailiffs turning up then the court should advise you to make a statutory declaration, this will set the case to be heard again in court.

You need to find out exactly why you were summoned to court as it will then make it easier to understand what you need to do to sort it out.

You say that you were buying the tax disc at the moment when the vehicle was clamped, if you can prove that you had taxed your vehicle prior to the clamp being put on the vehicle (i.e a post office receipt with time/date) then you may wish to consider taking further legal advice as the dvla cannot take a vehicle for which you can prove that you have a valid tax disc for.

hope this advice is of use...and good luck!