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

aquilerian

Thanks for all the feedback, most appreciated. I've just arranged a statutory declaration at my local Magistrates which I will be attending at 9.30 the coming Friday. I was told this will re-schedule the court date as I have arranged an SD within 21 days of the court hearing (Which was on the 11th)

I was also told I am liable to go to prison for 7 years if it is found I am lying. How do I prove that I haven't received something? Just preparing myself in the event that I am told I am lying by the magistrate. This is something I want to clear up asap without paying extortionate penalty fees for acting as if I'm trying to ignore the courts.

nobbysn*ts

aquilerian wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback, most appreciated. I've just arranged a statutory declaration at my local Magistrates which I will be attending at 9.30 the coming Friday. I was told this will re-schedule the court date as I have arranged an SD within 21 days of the court hearing (Which was on the 11th)

I was also told I am liable to go to prison for 7 years if it is found I am lying. How do I prove that I haven't received something? Just preparing myself in the event that I am told I am lying by the magistrate. This is something I want to clear up asap without paying extortionate penalty fees for acting as if I'm trying to ignore the courts.

Tell the truth. If you haven't received anything, they can't prove you have.

Joe_Horner

aquilerian wrote: »

I was also told I am liable to go to prison for 7 years if it is found I am lying. How do I prove that I haven't received something? Just preparing myself in the event that I am told I am lying by the magistrate

The magistrate won't tell you that you're lying.

The reason for that warning is that a statutory declaration is made under oath, the same as if you were giving evidence in a trial, so lying in one is perjury - which the courts tend to take very seriously.

The courts still assume that you'll tell the truth for fear of burning in eternal damnation if you're caught out lying after you've promised the Great Sky Pixie that you won't. So, unless they have proof that you did receive it, which they won't, they accept your word.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Magistrates are ordinary people, they are not investigators and have no reason to doubt you. Your circumstances are the same as many other people.

I suppose that the question in my mind and yours is how they can send the notification of the conviction when the notifications from the court did not arrive - bearing in mind that they will have adjourned at least once when you did not appear.

After you have made your declaration, it might be worth having a word with the clerk and find out what address was used to see if you can find out. I suggest you do this afterwards as if you do it before and you find they have got the right address you might feel that you were lying in your declaration and ger nervous.

Hintza

aquilerian wrote: »

i just simply didn't pay it as the vehicle in question was used so infrequently that we could not be bothered.

Tell the magistrate that, I'm sure it will help him reconsider the size of the fine.

Bantex_2

aquilerian wrote: »

I was also told I am liable to go to prison for 7 years if it is found I am lying. How do I prove that I haven't received something? Just preparing myself in the event that I am told I am lying by the magistrate. This is something I want to clear up asap without paying extortionate penalty fees for acting as if I'm trying to ignore the courts.

I would take a toothbrush and a change of underwear, just in case.

Just remember, if you drop the soap in the shower, leave it there.

photome

Bantex wrote: »

I would take a toothbrush and a change of underwear, just in case.

Just remember, if you drop the soap in the shower, leave it there.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Iceweasel

gik wrote: »

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.

More damn confusion caused by folks insisting on calling the Vehicle Excise Duty disc by the obsolete term Road Tax.

Nobody has paid Road Tax since 1937!

Mr_Mink

aquilerian wrote: »

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.

Do you live in an apartment or done a random lane? If this is happening regularly (though it would be tough to tell for obvious reasons) it's probably worth having a chat with the Royal Mail about why so much mail is not getting to you.

aquilerian

Hintza wrote: »

Tell the magistrate that, I'm sure it will help him reconsider the size of the fine.

to be expected, I guess. In this circumstance i think it is completely unreasonable to be fined £548 given the severity and location of the incident. I intend to pay what my fine would have initially been without their hands going needlessly deeper into my pockets. I had no tax on an MOT'd and insured vehicle. Not that it matters, but I live in Bodmin Moor where roads are more like cobbled tracks, and in an area where vehicles and houses are few and far between.