Speeding tickets for car I no longer own

400ixl

The police work off of the registered keeper, not who is insured as they can legally be completely different people. Its not their job to sort your mess out and compare one database against another.

As for tax, it may be that it is all being dealt with online. I haven't had a physical letter from the DVLA about VED for years as i deal with it all in a timely manner and just get emails.

paul_c123

Its the seller's responsibility to inform DVLA of changes of registered keeper. Its not much use just passing the documents to a trader, because then you're trusting him to do it. Unless, of course, they do it in front of you with an email confirmation sent to you. As above really, belatedly inform DVLA now of the change. 

Worst case scenario is that your partner ends up in court with a speeding or other offence, and has to go through all of the above to try prove it wasn't him driving.

LMS123

Thank you everybody. I hadn't thought about the online car tax route. 
He's going to try and get the statements from his closed bank account to see if he can find the garage he sold the car to. 
Failing that, it may be a long and probably fruitless conversation with DVLA if he can't find proof of sale. Lesson learned!

QrizB

LMS123 said:

But I still don't understand who DVLA are  sending the tax reminders to and why Lincolnshire police don't just check MID.

What makes you sure the car is taxed or insured?

If you stick the reg. no. in here, what does it tell you about the vehicle's MoT and tax?

https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-status

https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

TooManyPoints

He is clearly still registered keeper of the vehicle…

He might be. But it seems odd he has had no tax reminders in three years. I tax my cars online but I still get paper reminders in the post

But that aside, s172 places no particular burden on the RK. The only parties mentioned are “the person keeping the vehicle” (who may or may not be the RK) and “any other person” He is clearly the latter. If the police want to dispute this (and so make him liable for the more onerous duty to provide the driver’s details) they must prove he is he person keeping the vehicle.

Jobs 1 and 2 will certainly help him clarify the status of the vehicle for future reference but they won’t help him with his current problem. That information is not currently “within his power to give” (though it won’t hurt him doing job 1 and informing he police of his findings).

“The police work off of the registered keeper, not who is insured as they can legally be completely different people. Its not their job to sort your mess out and compare one database against another.”

Their job is to establish who was driving so that they can pursue them for the underlying offence. The OP’s partner only has the duty I outlined above. The police can prosecute him under s172 and that prosecution will succeed only if the court believes he has not discharged that duty. He my face prosecution for failing to notify a change of RK, but that offence carries a fine only. 

Worst case scenario is that your partner ends up in court with a speeding or other offence, and has to go through all of the above to try prove it wasn't him driving.

There is no possibility of him being convicted of speeding because there is no evidence he was driving (because he wasn’t). He certainly does not have to prove he was not driving - the police have to prove that he was. The worst case scenario is that he is prosecuted under s172 but he will only be convicted of that offence if the police prove he has not provided them with all the information which he either has or which is within his power to give. 

facade

LMS123 said:

But I still don't understand who DVLA are  sending the tax reminders to and why Lincolnshire police don't just check MID. 

They did.

But either it is still registered in your partner's name, or they can't trace Mr M Mouse, Mouseton  who has insured it.

They are writing to your partner as the last known keeper hoping that he can shed some light on the elusive Mr M. Mouse.

Some naughty scamps give a false name & address to a seller, or don't bother registering it at all if they get hold of the whole V5.

They can either tax it using the number on the V5 or just not bother- it no doubt runs perfectly without it. Similarly for insurance- they don't need it to make the car run.

TooManyPoints

But IF the OP's partner was still shown as the RK and (presumably) nobody else had taxed the vehicle for the last three years, he would have heard something from somebody by now (probably from the DVLA offering him, firstly, a fixed penalty for failing to renew, then prosecution for failing to accept the FP).

If he had been prosecuted and fined by a court I feel quite certain he would have had a knock on the door by now.

I find this whole episode very puzzling but that doesn't alter his responsibilities as far as s172 goes.

QrizB

TooManyPoints said:

If he had been prosecuted and fined by a court I feel quite certain he would have had a knock on the door by now.

Maybe OP's partner needs to check their credit reports, too. It wouldn't be the first time someone's found a surprise CCJ.

LightFlare

400ixl said:

The police work off of the registered keeper, not who is insured as they can legally be completely different people. Its not their job to sort your mess out and compare one database against another.

As for tax, it may be that it is all being dealt with online. I haven't had a physical letter from the DVLA about VED for years as i deal with it all in a timely manner and just get emails.

Interesting - actually had one today for a vehicle we have that the tax runs out end April

TooManyPoints

Maybe OP's partner needs to check their credit reports, too. It wouldn't be the first time someone's found a surprise CCJ.

CCJs are not issued in pursuance of unpaid fines for criminal offences. The County Court has no involvement whatsoever.

They may be issued for unpaid parking charges.