Where do SORN vehicles have to be parked?

mossstitchmama

Asking for a friend.

Very long story (I will happily supply more info as far as I am able).

Partially dismantled transit size van parked on the approach to a driveway slightly blocking the footpath. Front and rear bumpers removed so no number plate id. VIN number on windscreen is covered. Four flat tyres. No way to check if it is taxed and insured.

Can the owner of this van be legally made to move it? It is hanging out into the road, but all four tyres are off the road on the footpath.

I suspect not, it seems to have been positioned too perfectly (and I can understand the reason it has been put there). My friend and her husband want to sell their house nearby but are worried this will put off prospective buyers.

Any advice will be gratefully received.

OddballJamie

If it's on the foot path/ pavement then phone the council and get them to shift it.

BeenThroughItAll

As above. The clue is in the name:


"Statutory OFF ROAD Notification"




The pavement/footpath is part of the public highway AFAIAA.

[Deleted User]

Road includes public footpath. You can't SORN a car then bump it onto the pavement and leave it parked there.

mossstitchmama

Oh that's interesting. At the moment, no one can prove if it is SORN or not as all the id has been removed or obscured. So if my friend is able to prove it is SORN, she can get it moved?

Thanks, that may give her something to go on. She didn't want to have any trouble with neighbours before moving house.

SailorSam

You can check yourself at the Dvla website to see if a vehicle has been 'sorn'
https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

BeenThroughItAll

SailorSam wrote: »

You can check yourself at the Dvla website to see if a vehicle has been 'sorn'
https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

Not without a VRM or VIN, you can't - as per the OP.

BeenThroughItAll

mossstitchmama wrote: »

Oh that's interesting. At the moment, no one can prove if it is SORN or not as all the id has been removed or obscured. So if my friend is able to prove it is SORN, she can get it moved?

Thanks, that may give her something to go on. She didn't want to have any trouble with neighbours before moving house.

Not displaying a VRM is an offence in any case. Report it to the police and council as abandoned.

mossstitchmama

All very helpful info. Hopefully it will get her the result she would like. Many thanks.

Herzlos

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Not displaying a VRM is an offence in any case. Report it to the police and council as abandoned.

This. If it's been in that state for a while, and there's no identification on it, then it's abandoned. It sounds as if it's been done deliberately to make it hard to trace.

I take it it doesn't still have a tax disc in with a registration number?

Do you know who the owner is?

marlot

This set me thinking - when is a car a car, and when is it a pile of junk?

If I have just a door sitting there, it's presumably not a car?
If I have just a a door and an engine sitting there, it's presumably not a car?
If I have a stripped bodyshell sitting there, it's presumably a car? Or is it a lump of metal? What if I've cut it into half a dozen bits?

No help to the OP, but it set me thinking!

[I used to have a car, and a donor car, when I did bangernomics motoring]

Edit: I've just done a google, and DVLA seem to say that a car is a car until its gone to an ATF. https://www.gov.uk/scrapped-and-written-off-vehicles/overview.

I loved the bit that said a vehicle could still be scrapped if it was minus engine, gearbox, bodywork or wheels. Not sure that I'd be able to definitely say what a car is if you take those items away!

DVLA also seem to suggest that you can just write to tell DVLA if you no longer have the vehicle [all the major bits have been re-used or sold?]