fined £548 for not having road tax, !!!!!!? Need advice

aquilerian

tberry6686 wrote: »

Sounds like some of your mail has been going missing as you would have been sent at least 1 letter from DVLA and another from the court. Has your postman changed recently, wouldn't be the first time mail has been re-routed.

It wouldn't be the first time, I had purchased a 3DS XL from eBay last year at Christmas which failed to make its arrival here. The sender had to pay a full refund, but was adamant that he sent it.

I am thinking the DVLA / Court will think I'm trying to fobb it off or that I am lying in that I simply could not be bothered to respond. If as a result has increased the fine hugely then I am going to try to minimalise it however I can.

aquilerian

HappyMJ - Yeah the Court I have listed is from the letter I have received today. This is the only documentation I have received in entirety regarding tax fine.

gik

You had no road tax when stopped. Why? Did you not receive the reminder that it was due? Is some of your mail going missing?

cajef

aquilerian wrote: »

why is the offence listed as "keep a vehicle without a valid vehicle license"?.

Maybe because from June to November you kept a vehicle without a valid licence.

aquilerian

gik wrote: »

You had no road tax when stopped. Why? Did you not receive the reminder that it was due? Is some of your mail going missing?

This is quickly turning into a "why don't you have road tax"

As i have already mentioned, I have not been contacted at all since being convicted with no tax in regards to a fine / court summons.
I am not trying to say i didn't get a tax reminder so its not my fault i got caught with no tax, i just simply didn't pay it as the vehicle in question was used so infrequently that we could not be bothered. tax reminders have nothing to do with anything here - again as I said i taxed it w/ 12 months following the incident.

I just rang the court which distributed the letter and they have told me to make a statutory declaration with my local Magistrates which will lower the fine.

aquilerian

cajef wrote: »

Maybe because from June to November you kept a vehicle without a valid licence.

The vehicle was MOT'd, and I can assure you my licence is valid, I only had no tax. I'm not hugely savvy with road laws, are you saying if I don't have tax, I instantly don't have a licence?

Herzlos

Phone the court and tell them this is the first you've heard of it and ask what you should do. You should be able to re-schedule.

Foxy-Stoat_3

aquilerian wrote: »

The vehicle was MOT'd, and I can assure you my licence is valid, I only had no tax. I'm not hugely savvy with road laws, are you saying if I don't have tax, I instantly don't have a licence?

They meant road fund license, not driving license. Not to be confused by the notion that road tax (road fund license) actually pays for the roads.

Road tax is just a license you have to pay for to own a car and keep/use it on the road, rather like a rod license.

gik

aquilerian wrote: »

The vehicle was MOT'd, and I can assure you my licence is valid, I only had no tax. I'm not hugely savvy with road laws, are you saying if I don't have tax, I instantly don't have a licence?

I think the licence mentioned refers to road fund licence ie Road tax/tax disk/vehicle excise duty and not your driving licence. If you have a car it needs to have road tax whether it's used or not unless you SORN it. It's not an optional extra.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Contacting the court is the correct way to go. You declare that you have not received notification and assuming that they believe you (and they should) they reset the process.

What you then do is plead guilty, but you can go to court to argue your case, though I don't think you have one. By pleading guilty you get a discount.

The clerk of the court will advise you what you need to do. They are used to it.