DVLA Unlicensed Vehicle £160 Surety - Refusal to Refund

jh2017fc

sheramber wrote: »

if the MOT didn't run out until after it was in the garage ( post 25) why did you not tax it with the existing MOT right away?

Seems odd to wait.

Okay, I said I was offski from this business on this site, but here's another person who reckons that their judgement of how they may have organised my life were they charged with doing so, would have been so much wiser and better and more commendable and less "odd" than how I did it, that I could not resist coming back to submit myself to more moralistic flaying.

Why did I not jump to it and tax my vehicle immediately after getting it de-clamped and taken to my local garage, you ask? Well, you have to step back and ask yourself what was I doing with this vehicle in the first place. There it was stuck in a garage, not in a great state of repair, untaxed and soon to have its MOT expire.
Why? Why was it being kept off road, unused, in a private garage?

Well, shoot me down, here's the answer: I had been bequeathed the car which was wheelclamped, because of a death in my family earlier this year and I already had a car - which was taxed, MOT-ed, and parked outside my home on the road.

Now I had TWO cars and my decision with my family's consent and encouragement, was to sell one of them.

I could not decide which one, so in the meantime I garaged the one I had been passed down, sorted out the ownership registration, and started to think about which car I wanted to keep on permanently and which to sell, and what I would need to do to whichever one I decided to sell.

I decided I'd sort out the bequeathed car and put it on the market and keep my own car. So I thought I'd go step by step - service and repairs then MOT, and whilst in this process it got wheelclamped, so that just spurred me on really on my original plan - service and repair, MOT and tax, then advertise and sell.

This might strike you as "odd" but when you are bereaved from the loss of a close family member maybe you don't always do things quite as others might.

Even so, it doesn't matter one single jot, because none of the above is a problem. Being mugged by HM Govt to the tune of £160 is the problem.

I am so very grateful for the encouraging remarks on here about being successful in court and am beginning to assume that the rest of you sanctimonious prigs either work for the DVLA or wish that you did.

Willberry

I have read this thread with mounting incredulity. In his very first post the OP writes,
"The car needed an MOT so it had to go in for some work first. Then it got its MOT - the the 15th day!! I phoned DVLA to tax the car and was told they could not "see" my new MOT on their system, so I should go to a Post Office armed with the paper version of my new MOT and pay my tax and get a receipt, and then I would get my £160 refunded." later in the post he writes,
"I explained the car needed work done so it could get through an MOT and THEN and only then could I tax it"
This bears little resemblance to the sob story trotted out in his very last post. Seems to me that the car was out of tax and out of MOT. He got caught and took too long in getting the car MOT'd and missed the tax deadline. If, as he says in his final post he was trying to decide whether to sell or keep this vehicle why was it not SORN'd for what appears the lengthy period it was apparently off the road. Most people in this situation would have made damn sure that the car was taxed as soon as possible, i.e MOT first, tax obtained and then serviced. Seems like common sense. I have to admit that it has been quite entertaining watching jh2017fc wriggling like a worm on a hook. If there are any sanctimonious prigs present then jh2017fc is surely the most sanctimonious of all.

Willberry

He may not have had a tax or MOT but at least he is a gentleman, although not necessarily in sobriety.

takman

jh2017fc wrote: »

You've got a right old bee in your bonnet about my MOT, haven't you. Perhaps you would permit me to make this crystal clear to you. When my vehicle was clamped for being an unlicensed vehicle, it had a valid MOT.

My inquiry on this site, my first ever, and almost certainly my last, had nothing whatsoever to do with MOT. The whole thing - the wheelclamp, the fine, the tax, the surety fee, none of it had anything to do with MOT.

This is even more ridiculous!. You knew that you had to get it taxed to get your £160 and you knew your MOT was running out so why didn't you tax it the same day, get your refund and then it's sorted.

Considering that you can MOT a car a month early and keep the same annual expiry date there was no reason to leave it to the last minute anyway.

All of this was due to the MOT because you needed an MOT to tax it.

jh2017fc wrote: »

The MOT matter was entirely coincidental. My vehicle was soon going to need a new MOT.

Coincidental to that my car - in my view, needed a service. It was approaching 80,000 miles on the clock. I thought it could do with one. I knew the MOT was coming up on it as well, so I thought I'd get things sorted. And I have admitted that I was aware that it was unlicensed and I was going to have to get that sorted out as well.

The rest is history - I got it serviced, some repairs were done, the MOT was issued, and the tax paid for a year. I have also been fined for not keeping it taxed. And I have paid all of the unpaid back tax of a couple of months whilst it was in the garage. And I have acepted my Guilt for this in full without any excuse.

In this unhappy story I thought I was mugged by the government for £160 for the refundable surety fee, but I was not sure. I thought I would come onto this site and seek the advice of all of you.

Just consider it an idiot tax.

jh2017fc wrote: »

I am most grateful for those of you who have been kind enough to offer your advice without throwing moral brickbats at me, but I am surprised at those of you have refused to address my questions and instead chose to try and rebuke me and taunt me and insinuate that I got what I deserved as the piece of scum that I am.

And then there have been those like yourself who are clearly so thick that you just can't operate as an intelligent human being, merely as a knee-jerk troll on your keyboard.

So your coming on here and personally insulting random people online because they don't agree with you. The only troll on here is you.
I would say everything i have to you to your face, i bet you wouldn't insult people like that in person.

jh2017fc wrote: »

I'm signing off now. When I get a final decision on this from the DVLA and/or the Courts, I'll inform the website. For the rest of it, I'll bid my farewells and move swiftly on with a very deep sigh of relief.

System

I'm losing track, how many versions of the truth have we now had posted by the OP?

Joe_Horner

Tarambor wrote: »

I'm losing track, how many versions of the truth have we now had posted by the OP?

It's a well established quantum principle. When dealing with sufficiently small minds, all truths are equally valid until observed by Jeremy Kyle.

This particular instance is known as Schroedinger's Tax Disk.

custardy

almillar

over the telephone, TELLS YOU THAT YOU HAVE 15 DAYS TO TAX YOUR CAR. They don't say anything about doing so by 5pm!!!

I was given 15 days. I took 15 days

You're taking the 15 days thing too literally. You don't get 360 hours from the time you phone them, it's 'roughly' 15 days. You could have done it in the morning on day 15 but you waited until the evening, made an assumption about opening times, and got it wrong.
You repeatedly admit making a mistake, regretting not sorting it on day 13 or 14, but still want to blame someone else. It seems to me that the authorities have actually done quite well by you, giving correct information along the way.
You were very unlucky to get clamped for being on the street for such a short time, but I really don't see what you're going to achieve trying to fight rules that you understand perfectly well you broke, with no special circumstances. Sorry.

EcoR1

I'm just waiting for the thread when the OP realises he's also being fined for his lack of tax as well, it's going to be tremendous.

Nodding_Donkey

Have you written an LBA yet OP?