Roa Tax: £620 owed to Marston and a missed court hearing

waterfall66692

Hi everyone, forgive the long and rambling post...

The other day my partner received a letter from Marston's debt collectors saying that she owed them a debt of £620 which will go up of someone has to visit the property.

We had no idea what this was for so she rang them today and found out that it's for non-payment of road tax and a 'missed court hearing' in November 2018. The court is based in Crawley (although we live in Norwich).

We'd heard nothing of this missed court hearing, although my partner is adamant that she did pay an £80 charge earlier this year to an agency working on behalf of the DVLA for the tax issue. The vehicle was untaxed because she moved house and forgot to change her address for a few months and the reminders went to the old one. She changed her address to the correct one last year. Marston's were unable to give any more details and had said that the case has been passed back over to the courts to deal with.

My partner is obviously distraught at this, she's never had a blemish or anything on her record before and this is a lot of money. We're a young couple in our mid 20's and haven't had to deal with anything like this before. I am assuming that correspondence has still been going to her old address hence not hearing anything until this point. She is worried that it will affect her credit rating or ability to get a mortgage with me in the future.

What should be our plan? Is it better to pay the £620 if possible and avoid going to court and potentially getting an increased fine for having a vehicle registered to the wrong address?

The courts aren't open or contactable until 2 January and I don't know if she needs to contact the DVLA in the meantime to ask why this has been escalated. She hasn't had to use professional legal advice before.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

AdrianC

waterfall66692 wrote: »

The other day my partner received a letter from Marston's debt collectors saying that she owed them a debt of £620

DVLA have sold it on.

which will go up of someone has to visit the property.

Of course. Everything they have to do to recover the debt will incur costs, which will be added to the debt.

We had no idea what this was for so she rang them today and found out that it's for non-payment of road tax and a 'missed court hearing' in November 2018. The court is based in Crawley (although we live in Norwich).

No great surprise there. They'll put it all through a single court.

We'd heard nothing of this missed court hearing, although my partner is adamant that she did pay an £80 charge earlier this year to an agency working on behalf of the DVLA for the tax issue.

I'm going to guess that the car was clamped? If so, that'd be the clamp removal fee. The actual penalty is on top of that - and is what's now catching up with you. The information the clamper would have given you explained that, but I presume that went in the bin unread...

The vehicle was untaxed because she moved house and forgot to change her address for a few months and the reminders went to the old one.

And that's where the penalty letters will have gone, too. The V5C address at the time of the offence...

She changed her address to the correct one last year. Marston's were unable to give any more details and had said that the case has been passed back over to the courts to deal with.

Because you never received the court notifications, because they were sent to the address you'd said was valid (by having on the V5C), but actually wasn't (because you'd omitted to change it).

That means that the court hearing for the penalty will be heard again, as if you had received the notification.

My partner is obviously distraught at this, she's never had a blemish or anything on her record before

Unfortunately, if you're going leave an untaxed car parked on the road with the wrong address on the V5C, this is the inevitable follow-on from it.

waterfall66692

Hi,

"The information the clamper would have given you explained that, but I presume that went in the bin unread..."

No the car has never been clamped or towed.

She had paid £80 to the DVLA which we thought was the end of it. Unless this is for something separate. We've had no letters from them recently apart from this one. We've also never 'binned' or ignored any letters from the DVLA or any agency.

Robin9

Is the car taxed now ?

waterfall66692

Hi Robin, yeah it is. Taxed, MOTd and registered to our new address.

waamo

Ask the DVLA what the £80 was for.

giraffe69

Ask the DVLA what the £80 was for.

Or consult the paperwork that went with the fine.

Robin9

Table 1 – DVLA enforcement of vehicle tax, ... vehicle register. A Late Licensing Penalty (LLP) letter is issued automatically. LLP set at £80 reduced to £40 if paid within 28 days. If the penalty is not paid, the case will be referred to a debt collection Agency. The Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (VERA) (as amended) Section 7A of the Act applies. The Road Vehicles (Registration ...

waterfall66692

As a new user I can't post links apparently but I've just rounded up the two letters we've got and taken photos.

She didn't receive any correspondence from the DVLA at the time, just 'Pastdue credit solutions' in July 2019 on behalf of the DVLA regarding an unpaid tax issue in June 2018. The £80 was paid in full to Pastdue Solutions and besides this the vehicle was actually taxed in 2018 once she realised.

Mercdriver

waterfall66692 wrote: »

As a new user I can't post links apparently but I've just rounded up the two letters we've got and taken photos.

She didn't receive any correspondence from the DVLA at the time, just 'Pastdue credit solutions' in July 2019 on behalf of the DVLA regarding an unpaid tax issue in June 2018. The £80 was paid in full to Pastdue Solutions and besides this the vehicle was actually taxed in 2018 once she realised.

Did you also pay the tax for the period that the vehicle wasn't taxed?

Robin9

It may be that the debt collection is an error.

Your partner needs to contact DVLA - -today