DVLA Requistion for Untaxed Vehicle Help

robinsonj

Hey all,

We've had a court summons for DVLA for an untaxed vehicle with no information of how to contact them to ask questions or change the date (as we can't make the date on the letter) but mainly, we're confused as to why it's gone this far.

We bought a car in November 2014 (first time buying in about 6 years) when we bought it it was taxed up until June 2015, so we didn't worry about it. We got all the documents in our name and insurance sorted within a few days.

On 2nd January 2015, the car got clamped (Happy New Year from DVLA!) and we had to pay a fee to release it and a another fee as a penalty as well as taxing the car going forward. The problem was that we weren't aware that the Tax Disk had been discontinued and that tax was actually no longer transferable, so it wasn't an intentional tax evasion at all.

If they had simply alerted us to the changes when we had registered the car we would have updated the tax immediately. When we spoke to the pound they let us know to expect a bill for the back dated tax too, which would have been fine as it was for only about £40, which we could have paid no problem.

We never received the bill or any further communication on the matter until now when we've had this court summons saying we hadn't responded to the letter they sent in Jan (which we never received)

We don't want to plead guilty as this will cost us nearly £1000 which we can't afford and feel is unfair as we've done all we can to be inline with the law and feel it's their error for not sending the communication/chasing us up in an appropriate way. We also can't attend the court date as we're working at the other side of the country at that time, so if we do have to go we need to change the date, yet there's no info on how to do this or how/who to contact.

Can anyone offer any advise on the best plan of action?

Anyone experienced anything similar?

Thanks in advance.

matttye

You don't have a defence so if they proceed with the matter you'll have to plead guilty or have a trial which is doomed to failure and the penalties and cost to you will be greater after a trial.

Your best bet is persuading them not to proceed in the basis that it was an honest mistake, you were not aware of the new rules and thought that the car had tax. This isn't a defence but they might decide it's not in the public interest to prosecute.

Can you afford to seek legal advice from a solicitor? If not, maybe ask on somewhere like legal beagles or pepipoo for advice.

matttye

I should've added, the court and prosecution will almost certainly agree to an adjournment if you ask them. The procedure is usually to obtain the prosecution's consent first and then approach the court.

robinsonj

Thanks so much! Tried to log on to Legal Beagle but their sign up form is being a bit glitchy for me.

Don't think we can afford legal advise, would just like to be able to speak to someone at DVLA to find out more, as it really is a honest mistake and seems ridiculous to have a court summons occur over a outstanding balance of less than £40.

robinsonj

matttye wrote: »

You don't have a defence so if they proceed with the matter you'll have to plead guilty or have a trial which is doomed to failure and the penalties and cost to you will be greater after a trial.

Your best bet is persuading them not to proceed in the basis that it was an honest mistake, you were not aware of the new rules and thought that the car had tax. This isn't a defence but they might decide it's not in the public interest to prosecute.

Can you afford to seek legal advice from a solicitor? If not, maybe ask on somewhere like legal beagles or pepipoo for advice.

Does this mean the best course of action could be to fill out the form pleading guilty and include part 3 (mitigating circumstances) with details of the situation?

matttye

robinsonj wrote: »

Does this mean the best course of action could be to fill out the form pleading guilty and include part 3 (mitigating circumstances) with details of the situation?

How long do you have to respond? I would probably write to the DVLA explaining that you did not receive their letter offering to settle out of court but would like to take them up on that.

If they refuse then you should plead guilty by post and your mitigating circumstances are:

1) you were not aware of the changes to tax (there's been a lot of media coverage about the changes so you'll have to be convincing). You genuinely believed you had tax. This was a lack of education rather than a wilful avoidance of paying tax;
2) you did not receive DVLA's letter offering to settle the matter out of court and would have paid without delay if you had received it.

robinsonj

matttye wrote: »

How long do you have to respond? I would probably write to the DVLA explaining that you did not receive their letter offering to settle out of court but would like to take them up on that.

If they refuse then you should plead guilty by post and your mitigating circumstances are:

1) you were not aware of the changes to tax (there's been a lot of media coverage about the changes so you'll have to be convincing). You genuinely believed you had tax. This was a lack of education rather than a wilful avoidance of paying tax;
2) you did not receive DVLA's letter offering to settle the matter out of court and would have paid without delay if you had received it.

Thank you, I think that's wise too.

The media coverage thing was what we've had told to us before, but we don't have normal TV channels so don't watch news and don't read newspapers. Also when the change happened neither of us were driving, so it wouldn't have been on our radar even if we had seen it, so hopefully that truth will be convincing.

stator

You have my sympathy, the media focussed almost entirely on the whole paper disc issue and virtually no-one mentioned the fact that it no longer transfers between owners.
I'm afraid I can't offer advice but I would also contact your MP, complain to them about how people weren't informed about this change and how unfair it is, they are more likely to take sympathy on you than the cold heartless DVLA will.

robinsonj

stator wrote: »

You have my sympathy, the media focussed almost entirely on the whole paper disc issue and virtually no-one mentioned the fact that it no longer transfers between owners.
I'm afraid I can't offer advice but I would also contact your MP, complain to them about how people weren't informed about this change and how unfair it is, they are more likely to take sympathy on you than the cold heartless DVLA will.

Thanks for the sympathy, I shall take your advise too.

I really don't understand why it's not flagged when you register a new vehicle, especially whilst it's a new thing and they can clearly see that someone hasn't owned a car in SO long.

Wish us luck!

matttye

Was the car advertised as having tax or did you assume it had tax because there was a tax disc in the windscreen?

robinsonj

matttye wrote: »

Was the car advertised as having tax or did you assume it had tax because there was a tax disc in the windscreen?

We had a tax disk displayed that was advertised as valid until June 2015, which is what made it extra !!!!, as we genuinely didn't know any different.

Anyway, UPDATE: We spoke to DVLA today. We were polite and explained the details and they were happy to take the backdated payment and an admin fee to clear the problem (total of about £100). Just waiting for a letter to confirm that the court case is cancelled and we're in the clear.

Thanks to everyone who gave some advise.