Late road tax fine

chaoticbaker

Hi there I was hoping to get some advice regarding some fines I have incurred.

I've received 2 letters this week from the DVLA with fines due to not paying my roadtax. I thought I had paid this at the end of last year at the same time as renewing my car insurance but evidently not.

The 2 letters list 3 charges:

1) A £40 penalty for failure to keep the car taxed (it expired on the 1st December)
2) £20.84 for the road tax owed for January
3) £93 for having the car on the road while untaxed

I've now paid for charges 1 & 2 and set up a direct debit to pay my tax in the future. My question is regarding the 3rd charge - do you think I have any grounds to appeal? We live in a flat and so have our car parked on the road outside. The £93 penalty is for "using" the car without tax although at the time the car was reported it was just parked and not being used. I completely admit responsibility for not paying the tax on time - it was entirely my error to forget. However, it seems a bit unfair to essentially be charged twice for failing to pay it on time. If I happened to live in a house with off-road parking I would not have incurred the £93 charge.

Do any of you think it is worth writing to the DVLA to contest this charge? Do you have any experience of doing so yourselves (either with a successful or unsuccessful outcome). Or should I just suck it up, pay and be more organised in future?

foxy-stoat

If you have not filled out a SORN declaration then you cannot really argue that it was off the road.

Tokk

foxy-stoat wrote: »

If you have not filled out a SORN declaration then you cannot really argue that it was off the road.

Doesn't make much difference - if it's declared "off road" and then reported as being parked on the road, you'll get fined for using whilst SORN

Rover_Driver

chaoticbaker wrote: »

I've received 2 letters this week from the DVLA with fines due to not paying my roadtax.

The 2 letters list 3 charges:

1) A £40 penalty for failure to keep the car taxed (it expired on the 1st December)
2) £20.84 for the road tax owed for January
3) £93 for having the car on the road while untaxed

They may be two different matters. The £40 Late Licensing Penalty - s.7A, Vehicles Excise & Registration Act 1994, and I expect, the £93 is an out of court settlement offer for the offence of using or keeping an unlicensed vehicle (it doesn't matter if it is 'off road' or not) - s.29 of the same act.

chaoticbaker

Heya, thank you for the response. You're correct that the £93 is an out of court settlement.

It just felt a bit odd to get both fines as if you are guilty of the £40 one then you are automatically guilty of the 2nd so why bother having 2 separate fines?

Car_54

chaoticbaker wrote: »

Heya, thank you for the response. You're correct that the £93 is an out of court settlement.

It just felt a bit odd to get both fines as if you are guilty of the £40 one then you are automatically guilty of the 2nd so why bother having 2 separate fines?

They are two separate offences. One is failure to tax the car: this applies whether it's used on not, unless it's SORNed. The other is using an untaxed car on the road.


"Using" includes parking, where you're taking up valuable road space.

Rover_Driver

chaoticbaker wrote: »

It just felt a bit odd to get both fines as if you are guilty of the £40 one then you are automatically guilty of the 2nd so why bother having 2 separate fines?

The £40 Late Licensing Penalty is administrative, from the DVLA checking their records.
The £93 out of court settlement offer would be a result of a report by someone to the DVLA about the unlicensed vehicle.

sevenhills

Rover_Driver wrote: »

The £40 Late Licensing Penalty is administrative, from the DVLA checking their records.
The £93 out of court settlement offer would be a result of a report by someone to the DVLA about the unlicensed vehicle.

Its rather harsh if the payment is just late. I haven't paid my TV licence yet, which expired on Dec 31st, I wonder how long I have got before I get fined.

AdrianC

sevenhills wrote: »

Its rather harsh if the payment is just late.

Nearly two months late.

I forgot to tax a car due at the end of December. I had a "Last Chance" (no penalty, just do it) letter the other day.

The OP didn't tax it at the end of November. It's now late January.

Marvel1

chaoticbaker wrote: »

3) £93 for having the car on the road while untaxed

I'My question is regarding the 3rd charge - do you think I have any grounds to appeal? We live in a flat and so have our car parked on the road outside. The £93 penalty is for "using" the car without tax although at the time the car was reported it was just parked and not being used.

It does not matter if used or not, its on the road.

Rover_Driver

Marvel1 wrote: »

It does not matter if used or not, its on the road.

The words 'on a public road' were removed from s.29 Vehicles Excise and Registration Act 1994 by Sch.45 Finance Act 2008.
s.29 is now 'If a person uses, or keeps, a vehicle which is unlicensed he is guilty of an offence'.