DVLA Statutory Declaration help

jawbreaker

Hello,

Find myself in a little pickle, well my better half, to give a quick introduction to the events, my partner lived in Location A, we had the vehicle declared SORN, the vehicle was being parked on the drive, and her parents Location B, my partner moved from Location A to Location C with me, and during this process she lost her V5 and we requested a new V5 from DVLA, but we haven't heard anything from DVLA, we chased DVLA and they confirmed they have requested more information, anyway 3-4 months later we received a new V5. In February of this year her dad had to remove the vehicle of the drive to allow for some tools and deliveries to be carried as he was renovating is house, he moved the car of the drive to the front on the house on the road, and in the space of 1 or 2 hours the vehicle got clamped, he told the people that clamped the vehicle but because everything was processed they couldn't change it, anyway the fine was paid there and then and the clamped got removed. However end of August we received a letter to Location C to mention that we need to pay a fine, this letter was sent by Bailifts. Because DVA have sent all the letter to Location A, and none of the letters made it to us we have been charged with pretty much the higher end of the fine for SORN vehicles.

We managed to ring the magistrate, and they have contacted the bailifts ( at this time the bailifts were already at our address) and they have stopped the case, however we now made an appeal and we are requesting a Statutory Declaration.

However not sure what the best process or best thing to do, as none of it its our fault, i know we will be asked to plead Guilty or Not Guilty but not sure which way to go.. are we Guilty no we are not we are not driving the vehicle or using the vehicle, however the vehicle was on the road in front of her dads house for a few ours just to let the tools and materials be delivered in.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

DoaM

To my knowledge it is an absolute offence .. you parked (or allowed to be parked) an untaxed vehicle on the public highway. There are no mitigating circumstances for this - guilty as charged. However ...

Why was the vehicle clamped in the first place?
What was the fine for?
Was the clamp release fee the only thing that was paid, and not the actual fine?

Basically ... was the vehicle clamped for being on the highway untaxed, or for another reason (e.g. parked where no parking is allowed)?

System

jawbreaker wrote: »

are we Guilty no we are not we are not driving the vehicle or using the vehicle, however the vehicle was on the road in front of her dads house for a few ours just to let the tools and materials be delivered in.

Your untaxed and SORNed vehicle was parked on the road so yes you are guilty. It is an absolute offence. Either the vehicle is taxed, insured and MOT'd (if it needs one) or it isn't. It is either SORNed or it isn't. There is no allowance for "we needed to move it to the front of the house for a few hours to get some stuff delivered." The fact you weren't driving it is irrelevant, it was on the public highway untaxed and SORNed. Given that no doubt someone drove it on the road round to the front of the house, or at the very least onto the road, and it is very likely it is uninsured you should be grateful that somebody isn't facing 6 points for driving an uninsured vehicle.

jawbreaker

DoaM wrote: »

To my knowledge it is an absolute offence .. you parked (or allowed to be parked) an untaxed vehicle on the public highway. There are no mitigating circumstances for this - guilty as charged. However ...

Why was the vehicle clamped in the first place?
What was the fine for?
Was the clamp release fee the only thing that was paid, and not the actual fine?

Basically ... was the vehicle clamped for being on the highway untaxed, or for another reason (e.g. parked where no parking is allowed)?

The vehicle was clamped for being on the road while declared SORN ( which i presume if they done a check on the vehicle they would have checked and would have been untaxed due to SORN), we paid for the fine and removal of the clamp, however because the people that clamped work for DVLA, and apparently once the fine is on the system DVLA will then send another fine to the owner. And i totally accept yes the vehicle should not be removed from the drive as SORN but it was literally for the sake of 1 hour, and tbh i only just want to try and get the fine imposed by DVLA a little bit down, as the fine is well to high, even the vehicle is not worth that much.

The reason why we though about the statutory declaration was just in case we didn't get the correct comms they fine might have been bumped.

Thanks for the reply

jawbreaker

Tarambor wrote: »

Given that no doubt someone drove it on the road round to the front of the house, or at the very least onto the road, and it is very likely it is uninsured you should be grateful that somebody isn't facing 6 points for driving an uninsured vehicle.

Vehicle was literally moved 3-4 yards from the drive, hardly driven, the one thing i just cant justify is the big fine that we are facing... on top of the fine paid to remove the clamp. One thing i woud like is to try and get the fine down, as currently that is very high

Thank you for the reply

Warwick_Hunt

jawbreaker wrote: »

Vehicle was literally moved 3-4 yards from the drive, hardly driven, the one thing i just cant justify is the big fine that we are facing... on top of the fine paid to remove the clamp. One thing i woud like is to try and get the fine down, as currently that is very high

Thank you for the reply

3-4 yards or 3-4 hundred miles, it’s still an offence.

jawbreaker

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

3-4 yards or 3-4 hundred miles, it’s still an offence.

Point taken...however what are the chances of bringing the fine down? as i cant really understand how the calculations for the fine is calculated by DVLA

sheramber

So your appeal it that the DVLA sent the letters to the old address so you didn't receive them.

It is nothing to do with how long the car was on the road.

takman

jawbreaker wrote: »

Vehicle was literally moved 3-4 yards from the drive, hardly driven, the one thing i just cant justify is the big fine that we are facing... on top of the fine paid to remove the clamp. One thing i woud like is to try and get the fine down, as currently that is very high

Thank you for the reply

Well fines are designed to be a deterrent to stop people from braking the rules, so if you feel the fine is high then it is doing it's job. I can't see you have any chance of getting it reduced otherwise that defeats the purpose of getting a fine.

The charge to remove the clamps pays for the cost of them having to look for untaxed vehicles, clamp them and then remove the clamp. The fine on top is then the deterrent so its fair that you should have to pay both.

droopsnoot

I would think the only argument you'd have with regard to the letters being sent to the wrong address is if some part of the fine is made up of late-payment charges. You might be able to argue that, had they sent the letters to the correct address, it would have been paid sooner.


If it's all just relating to the initial offence, then as others have said, you probably have no grounds to complain.

System

jawbreaker wrote: »

Vehicle was literally moved 3-4 yards from the drive, hardly driven,

Completely and utterly irrelevant. 3-4 yards onto the road could see you pull out and T-bone a passing car or motorcyclist in your uninsured, untaxed car and then what?

They have only your word that was the only time it was driven and that was as far as it was driven. For all they know it could've been parked there after you'd just got back from Tesco or wherever you'd been and you cannot prove that wasn't the case.

The fine is as much as it is because if it were £50 then people would just decide it was worth the risk. Be grateful your car wasn't lifted by a recovery truck and taken to a compound because then it would cost a hell of a lot more as there would be a daily storage charge to pay and you'd have to insure and tax it before it would be released and you'd still be stung with a fine.