DVLA - unable to SORN taking me to court!

Jamie_Carter

Have you called the DVLA to ask them why you have received a penalty for the car not being SORN'd?

It may be a clerical error that can be rectified over the phone.

Rover_Driver

HappyMJ wrote: »

What court are they taking you to? If it's county court then just explain everything in writing and if they continue with court action attend court and continue to deny everything.

It will be the magistrates court for the offence of having a vehicle that does not meet the insurance requirement, s.144A, Road Traffic Act 1988.

vaio

Did you send the tax back when you SORNed it for the first time?

honeybean

When you sorned the car you would of recieved a letter back from the dvla confirming the car was sorned, if you did not recieve a letter back you could not of done it .My partner sorned his car when his tax ran out and recieved a letter confirming it had
been done , similar to when you sell a vechicle .

TrickyWicky

honeybean wrote: »

When you sorned the car you would of recieved a letter back from the dvla confirming the car was sorned, if you did not recieve a letter back you could not of done it .My partner sorned his car when his tax ran out and recieved a letter confirming it had
been done , similar to when you sell a vechicle .

That means nothing. It just means that royal mail got the reply back to you. Even if you don't get a letter it doesn't mean the DVLA didn't act on your notification - RM could have just lost the letter.

@vaio: AFAIK, you do not have to send back the tax unless you're claiming a refund. You can still declare the car sorn. That may have changed since I last done it so I may be wrong on this but thats my understanding of it.

spacey2012

I can only comment on recent cases, but where someone turns up at court to defend themselves and intends to enter not guilty , they tend to walk off so the prosecution has no evidence to present .
Those that do declare they posted the documents correctly where they do stay to hear the case in court are usually found not guilty.
They generally attempt to reach an agreement before it goes in to court as the cases get mysteriously delayed to give the solicitor time to take the defendant in to the a private room and attempt to get them to make a settlement.
Most do this for some reason.
Those that even refuse to meet in the room have found themselves walking in to a court to find the solicitor has got up and walked off ?
This happened to someone on here only the other day.

vaio

TrickyWicky wrote: »

......AFAIK, you do not have to send back the tax unless you're claiming a refund. You can still declare the car sorn. That may have changed since I last done it so I may be wrong on this but thats my understanding of it.

I think you do have to surrender the tax is you make a SORN

this (from the guidance notes on the V890 form)....

You should not use this form if the vehicle is taxed and no longer used on the public road. You need to return the disc (including nil value discs) to DVLA and make a SORN using Application for a refund of vehicle tax when you have the tax disc (V14) instead.....

seems to agree

SLITHER99

I still find it amazing that something to do with a poxy car could serve to completely destroy your credit record through no real offense of your own, other than not having the money to pay a fine for something which has been really rather poorly advertised.

I - as do many others - always believed that the DVLA was only ever concerned whether or not a tax disk was on your car or not.

Speaking of which, in order for this fine (or charge or penalty or whatever you want to call it) to stand, surely they would have to prove that the car was in use on the public road? If it was locked in a garage in several pieces, then surely their penalty is completely absurd?

Not doubting what any of you are saying, I just think this is totally stupid!

Rolandtheroadie

vaio wrote: »

I think you do have to surrender the tax is you make a SORN

this (from the guidance notes on the V890 form)....

seems to agree

Not in practice.

Earlier in the year, I transferred my insurance from one car to another.

The car that now had no insurance was sorned (think 4 months tax remaining)and up for sale.

I retained the tax disc, and sold it a couple of weeks later.

Then I called DVLA and cancelled the SORN decleration which reinstated the old tax disc (once the new keeper's insurance was registered).

Rover_Driver

SLITHER99 wrote: »

surely they would have to prove that the car was in use on the public road? If it was locked in a garage in several pieces, then surely their penalty is completely absurd?

A motor vehicle is required to be licensed and insured where ever it is - locked in a garage, in several pieces or on a public road.
However, if it is not used or kept on a public road, a SORN declaration can be made in place of the licence and insurance.