HELP PLEASE ! DVLA Fine for un-taxed car on SORN

stevehull73

Hi All,
I’m hoping someone can help, this morning a DVLA letter arrived saying I have until the 21st January to pay a fine of £410. My car whilst on SORN had to be left on the roadside for a couple of days whilst work was being done on the drive. I accept that the car should not have been parked on the road outside my home, but I had no other option. I explained to the guy who clamped the car and he agreed that due to the rusted brake discs, I clearly was not using the vehicle on the road, I did ask the guy who clamped the car to photograph the visible discs.
The offense took place in early October 2018, and I have only just received the letter, dated 4th January 2019. Does anyone know if DVLA have to issue these fines within a certain time from the offence? Also is the £410 excessive ? I did tax the car straight away, even though I couldn’t afford to run it. Having just under 2 weeks to find £410 is impossible for me as I am in financial difficulties at this time which is possibly going to result in bankruptcy, which I am trying very hard to avoid, but thanks to Lloyd’s bank and now this, means it’s going to be a struggle. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

AndyMc.....

stevehull73 wrote: »

Hi All,
I’m hoping someone can help, this morning a DVLA letter arrived saying I have until the 21st January to pay a fine of £410. My car whilst on SORN had to be left on the roadside for a couple of days whilst work was being done on the drive. I accept that the car should not have been parked on the road outside my home, but I had no other option. I explained to the guy who clamped the car and he agreed that due to the rusted brake discs, I clearly was not using the vehicle on the road, I did ask the guy who clamped the car to photograph the visible discs.
The offense took place in early October 2018, and I have only just received the letter, dated 4th January 2019. Does anyone know if DVLA have to issue these fines within a certain time from the offence? Also is the £410 excessive ? I did tax the car straight away, even though I couldn’t afford to run it. Having just under 2 weeks to find £410 is impossible for me as I am in financial difficulties at this time which is possibly going to result in bankruptcy, which I am trying very hard to avoid, but thanks to Lloyd’s bank and now this, means it’s going to be a struggle. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

Give it’s a summary offence they have six months to deal with the matter or issue proceedings.

You accept you committed the offence so the only benefit of going to court is you may be able to pay the fine and increased costs weekly.

davidwood681

Your fault, ''man up'' and pay the fine.

No excuses will work and the DVLA were right to clamp you.

foxy-stoat

If an additional cost of £410 is going to push you into bankruptcy then you have bigger problems.

Dont pay the fine if you cannot afford to, make representations and pay £205 for 2 months or £102.50 - pay it if you can.

If you accept that keeping a SORN car on the road AT ALL then you should of paid the VED. This is just very unlucky, unless you were pushing your luck and keep it parked up on the road for weeks.

debtdebt

Just claim bankruptcy then and roll all your debt into the process.

AdrianC

He saw the car on the road. The letters "OR" in SORN mean "OFF ROAD". Bingo. Bang to rights.

Even if you say "Well, being parked there is different" (it isn't), you clearly didn't carry it there and place it carefully without rotating a single tyre, did you?

If £410 results in "bankruptcy", it may be a better idea to sell the car that you're not using, instead of insuring, MOTing and taxing it.

stevehull73

The car had been in the drive whilst on SORN, it was on the roadside for literally 2 hours whilst work was being done in the drive/garden. the fine of £410 seems excessive, I wasn’t caught driving the car. I have googled and can only find instances of people being fined £160

AdrianC

stevehull73 wrote: »

The car had been in the drive whilst on SORN, it was on the roadside for literally 2 hours whilst work was being done in the drive/garden.

Of course. Just bad luck that the DVLA camera van happened to pass during the two hours that the car happened to be on the road in the entire time it had been off it. It's amazing how often they get that lucky.

I wasn’t caught driving the car.

You WERE caught with a SORNed car on the road. This is what you seem reluctant to accept. You do not have to be physically driving it at the time. It is illegal to have a SORNed car on the road, except in very specific circumstances. This is unchanged since SORN was introduced in 1998.

How is the £410 broken down? There will be clamping fees in with that, as well as the actual penalty for the offence.

AndyMc.....

stevehull73 wrote: »

The car had been in the drive whilst on SORN, it was on the roadside for literally 2 hours whilst work was being done in the drive/garden. the fine of £410 seems excessive, I wasn’t caught driving the car. I have googled and can only find instances of people being fined £160

You committed the offence and got caught, what do you want to dispute?

BoGoF

stevehull73 wrote: »

The car had been in the drive whilst on SORN, it was on the roadside for literally 2 hours whilst work was being done in the drive/garden. the fine of £410 seems excessive, I wasn’t caught driving the car. I have googled and can only find instances of people being fined £160

You said it was 2 days in your OP. Not that it makes any difference to the offence.

stevehull73

I borrowed and paid £100 Clamp Removal fee on the day. Does anyone know where the £410 figure comes from as the most recent fine for someone was £160. I fully accept that I shouldn’t have left the car on the roadside. What I am struggling to accept is the DVLA fine. Would the DVLA accept payment by instalments ? Say £20 a week ?