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

aquilerian

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.

Haha. I always fear the worst so was trying to gauge how it will play out. I have no idea what to expect!

Rover_Driver

Iceweasel wrote: »

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

The disc is a Vehicle Excise Licence, for which you pay (unless exempt) Vehicle Excise Duty.

gik

!!!!!! don't be honest and tell the magistrate you couldn't be arsed taxing the car or you might find the £400 a cheap fine!

gik

aquilerian you do realise you have provided more than enough detail on here to identify yourself to the Court should someone/anyone draw this thread to SW Devon Mag Crts attention ie:-

Post #1

Just received a letter from South West Devon Magistrates Court Code 1302 telling me I have 2 weeks to pay £548.34 (£400 fine, £58.34 back duty and £90 'costs') and the offence says "1 / Keep a vehicle without a valid vehicle license"

I have a peugeot 106 and was stopped last year in November by police who found I had no tax disc since June.


Post #16

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.

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.

Post #22

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.

Do you really still want to go through with your appeal/SD?

Just a thought.

custardy

aquilerian wrote: »

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.

can you explain the correlation between taxing your car, and the roads you drive on?

System

Iceweasel wrote: »

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!

It's called road tax for the same reason that vacuum cleaners are called hoovers even though they are made by other people and ballpoint pens are called Biros.

It is a name that has stuck. It may have been abolished in 1937 but even the government was still calling it Road Tax in the 80s

Iceweasel

!!!!!! wrote: »

It's called road tax for the same reason that vacuum cleaners are called hoovers even though they are made by other people and ballpoint pens are called Biros.

It is a name that has stuck. It may have been abolished in 1937 but even the government was still calling it Road Tax in the 80s

Yes, I understand that the name has stuck - but most folks are aware that all vacuum cleaners are not made by Hoover and there are other brands of ball-point pens.

But a great many people are under the impression that what they call 'Road Tax' is actually to pay for the upkeep of the roads.

Only last week in a road rage tv programme a van-driver was loudly telling a cyclist that he paid 'road tax' and cyclists didn't.

I was delighted to hear her correct him.

custardy

Iceweasel wrote: »

Yes, I understand that the name has stuck - but most folks are aware that all vacuum cleaners are not made by Hoover and there are other brands of ball-point pens.

But a great many people are under the impression that what they call 'Road Tax' is actually to pay for the upkeep of the roads.

Only last week in a road rage tv programme a van-driver was loudly telling a cyclist that he paid 'road tax' and cyclists didn't.

I was delighted to hear her correct him.

Pollution tax is more apt

Johno100

custardy wrote: »

can you explain the correlation between taxing your car, and the roads you drive on?

Because some of the tax paid to the exchequer, in form of VED, fuel duty and VAT, is provided to the DfT by way of direct funding and to councils in the form of grants from central government and is used for amongst other things the maintenance of the roads.

custardy

Johno100 wrote: »

Because some of the tax paid to the exchequer, in form of VED, fuel duty and VAT, is provided to the DfT by way of direct funding and to councils in the form of grants from central government and is used for amongst other things to maintain the roads.

How much of the OPs(eventually) paid tax goes towards the Bodmin Moor roads?