SORN Penalty but car was taxed and off road, help please

Loug

My 18 year old daughter has got into a mix up regarding the SORN statement and now the DVLA want £100, she doesn't have any money to pay. Her cars head gasket went and the garage said it would cost too much to repair so we put the car on our drive while we deliberated as to what to do. I am a single Mum also caring for my 92 year old Mum with dementia so I have no income either. I am not car savvy and my daughter needed a car to get to college as we live in the country and there is no other way to get to college and I bought her another car out of my savings. The old car was still taxed but I transferred the insurance onto the other car. I didn't think I had done anything wrong. This was in Jan 2016. On 31/03 DVLA sent a letter saying that the car had to either be insured or a SORN done, no date was stated as to how long she had to do it by. She went online and tried to SORN the car but it wouldn't accept the tax renewal ref no, she couldn't find the original registration document amongst all her college work. I telephoned the DVLA and was told that she had to buy another registration document costing £25 just to give them the registration document number! They wouldn't let me do the SORN on the telephone even though the letter said it could be done by phone. My daughter tried again to find the reg. document to no avail and didn't have the £25 for another document. My daughter sent off a letter to the DVLA dated 23 April 2016 asking for it to have a SORN. She then found the reg Document, I am not sure what date this was but it was definately before we received a letter dated 28 April stating that my daughter had to pay £100 in full or '£50 and insure your vehicle immediately or take it off the road'. As soon as the reg document was found my daughter could SORN the car online, and nothing else was stated online about having to pay anything so she thought it was all ok and ignored the demand for the penalty. She then has received a final notice demanding £100 but it states to make a SORN which she has already done. To dispute the penalty you have to fill out a form on the back but none of the boxes apply. Unfortunately on the website there is no record of the date of when the car was SORNED and she didn't think to make a note of the date. Its all got very confusing and out of hand. I thought that if the car was taxed it was all ok, we never asked for a refund as we weren't sure what to do with the car, its still on our drive. Any advice would be appreciated, I am at my wits end as to what to do now. The DVLA obviously didn't receive the letter asking for a SORN and if they would have accepted it over the phone like it states on the reminder there wouldn't have been this problem. Help please, we don't have £100.

molerat

The car must be either SORNed or taxed AND insured. From what you have written she is guilty as charged and DVLA may take it to court.

desres52

Making the Sorn after the penalty was issued does not cancel the penalty. From what you have written, the time to pay the reduced amount has now passed. She could write in now to appeal and explain circumstances.

Marvel1

Loug wrote: »

As soon as the reg document was found my daughter could SORN the car online, and nothing else was stated online about having to pay anything so she thought it was all ok and ignored the demand for the penalty. She then has received a final notice demanding £100 but it states to make a SORN which she has already done. To dispute the penalty you have to fill out a form on the back but none of the boxes apply. Unfortunately on the website there is no record of the date of when the car was SORNED .

I'm assuming she SORN'ed online,if so they ask for a email address don't they as a receipt acknowledgement?

fisherjim

Owning a car is an expensive, and complicated liability, it's also one of the most intrusive ways that the authorities can worm into you details, the vehicles movements, and of course make lots of money out of you.

Anyone that takes on this liability (or convenience which ever way you look at it) needs to keep up with the laws surrounding ownership, and not treat the documents and records of this traceable heap of metal like scrap paper.

The authorities unfortunately no longer wet nurse you with this any more, the DVLA are also very slippery, a hard lesson learned, and this will follow its course I fear!