Court Summons - No Insurance, Not SORN

Seanymph

My step son has received a court summons.

It is to appear bloomin miles away, and says he had a moped with no insurance, not SORN'd on 3rd June.

He has recently moved out, and although I have contacted him and tried to arrange for him to collect the paperwork and offered to help him with it so far he is not responding.

Am I right in thinking that he would have received a letter, then £100 fine, and THEN the summons? (This is from reading around on the internet).

I believe it's accurate - his insurance ran out last summer, he was riding with no insurance so his father and I garaged the bike and he has never re-insured it.

When the tax ran out he never re-taxed it, and, it appears, didn't SORN it either.

What should I advise him to do? Has anyone any experience of this?

DUTR

It sounds like it is too late to advise him what to do, if he is not going to listen to his Father, Mother , you or anybody else, then he will have to listen to the law. He maybe through with the past, but the past is not through with him.
As an old saying goes, "those that won't hear, must feel"

Seanymph

Well despite trying to not appear too down on him you seem to have got his number...

I THINK if I typed all the letters and filled in all the forms and provided stamped envelopes and drove it to his work he MIGHT send it....

Anything short of that and I'm worried he won't bother.

Will the bailiffs end up here? This is where the summons was sent?

See part of me wants to respond and give them his new address - but another part wants to try and get him to sort it out properly.

Iceweasel

I can understand the dilemma that you are in.

I think that you would actually be helping him best if you were simply to forward the letter to his current address.

It seems that he has not taken onboard the seriousness of his actions in riding without insurance and his inaction in not declaring SORN on the moped.

Of course you need to discuss this with his dad and make a joint decision.

There is really nothing that you can do on his behalf at this late stage.

DUTR

Seanymph wrote: »

Well despite trying to not appear too down on him you seem to have got his number...

I THINK if I typed all the letters and filled in all the forms and provided stamped envelopes and drove it to his work he MIGHT send it....

Anything short of that and I'm worried he won't bother.

Will the bailiffs end up here? This is where the summons was sent?

See part of me wants to respond and give them his new address - but another part wants to try and get him to sort it out properly.

In a sense you may end up stuck between a rock and stone, when incidints occur, it can feel like it's the end of the world, of course you know it's not but the boy doesn't realise that yet, and ignoring it, will only hurt him more in the longer run.

Iceweasel wrote: »

I can understand the dilemma that you are in.

I think that you would actually be helping him best if you were simply to forward the letter to his current address.

It seems that he has not taken onboard the seriousness of his actions in riding without insurance and his inaction in not declaring SORN on the moped.

Of course you need to discuss this with his dad and make a joint decision.

There is really nothing that you can do on his behalf at this late stage.

This also,

Marvel1

Seanymph wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that he would have received a letter, then £100 fine, and THEN the summons? (This is from reading around on the internet).

Yes he would, first a warning to Insure it or declare SORN if not then a fine, seems he ignored both and now this.

mgdavid

cjdavies wrote: »

Yes he would, first a warning to Insure it or declare SORN if not then a fine, seems he ignored both and now this.

if the summons was sent to him at your address, then so would the previous communications. Where are they? Did he receive them directly before he moved out?

Seanymph

Thank you all for your replies.

He would have received everything previously yes, he moved out a week ago.

When he was here I put all of his post into his bedroom.

He has a history of not dealing with things, and this looked terribly official so I opened it.

His Dad is in France currently, he knows about it, knows I've offered help, and knows the content of the messages between SS and me over it - over facebook - he had said 'For F's Sake' followed by 'I'll come Monday' - and when I talked about time said 'I'll message you when I get home'. That was Friday.

If he hasn't had warnings or it is abiguous I'd have felt more inclined to try and wade in on his behalf (perhaps a sworn statement at a Solicitors from me that it's been garaged at his dads' work so he couldn't get at it?).

If, as appears, the certainty is that he will have had warnings, then I feel less inclined to allow myself to be stressed about his inaction.

I've never had a court summons - so for me it's huge and causes panic.

N9eav

I would not get overly concerned, No one is going to go to prison.


It won't go away either. It may be too late to try and defer the appearance as part of the law concerning all vehicles is about notification.
Example. You can tax a car but failing to display the disk is an offence, even though you paid for it. Like wise you can put a car or bike in the garage, not keep it on the road and yet failing to tell them you have done it is an offence.


The best thing to do if for him to go to court, tell them it was garaged and he forgot to SORN it. You can witness that if you wish.. I expect he can even plead by letter.


There will most likely be a small fine.


You won't be eligible for legal aid and solicitors will cost more than the fine. Some free legal advice may be available on the day, but not representation.


Don't ignore it as it won't go away and may result in an arrest warrant.

redpete

Seanymph wrote: »

See part of me wants to respond and give them his new address - but another part wants to try and get him to sort it out properly.

Why not respond and give them his new address and let him sort it out properly.