Penalty for untaxed vehicle, while SORNd

muffinmannen22 wrote: »

mental, I can pay the 2.5 as easily as I can pay the 649 - not at all

I have to fight it though, I mean I get that for the month that it was there I was not abiding by the sorn and that's entirely my fault for not checking the definition of public road properly but to be charged that is crazy. And if I can't appeal it, or if they won't listen then there's absolutely no way it can be paid by their deadline of 10 days, no hope at all of that happening.

As neil and doam have advised, it will be cheaper to settle and there are no grounds to appeal on. In some criminal offences, mens rea is a required element but not for this one, its an absolute offence. Which means it doesn't matter how it came about, if you were aware you were committing an offence etc.

This could potentially get very painful and expensive for you, particularly if the vehicle isn't insured when it was on the public road as that would be another offence committed which may attract penalty points and a fine. If you're lucky it will just be the fine for having a vehicle on the road while sorn'd (which carries a greater fine than having a vehicle on the road untaxes).

muffinmannen22 wrote: »

Sorry for being dumb here but I'm lost - can you explain in simpleton's terms pls?

Just for info - car was insured, wasn't driven as no mot / roadworthy and obvs no tax but was marked as sorn.

Not sure which part you need help with so let me know if you need anything further clarified.

The offence I linked to is keeping or using a unlicensed vehicle. There is 2 possible branches of that offence.

One is where you don't tax the vehicle (whether purposely or because you forgot) but you haven't SORN'd the vehicle either. In that instance you will be liable to a fine of £1000 or 5 times the duty chargeable - whichever of those 2 is the greatest.

The other is where you declare SORN and your vehicle is found to be kept or used on the road (which includes footpaths and grass verges btw). In that instance you will be liable to a fine of £2500 or 5 times the duty chargeable.

So in your case, as the vehicle was SORN'd, you would be liable to a fine of £2500 (as £2500 is greater than 5 x £315).

However I would note there are additional offences. The ones above are offences under section 29.

Section 30 tells us:

Additional liability for keeper of unlicensed vehicle.
(1)Where the person convicted of an offence under section 29 is the person by whom the vehicle in respect of which the offence was committed was kept at the time at which it was committed, the court shall (in addition to any penalty which it may impose under that section) order him to pay the amount specified in subsection (2).

(2)The amount referred to in subsection (1) is an amount equal to one-twelfth of the annual rate of vehicle excise duty [F10chargeable in respect of using or keeping the vehicle on a public road] for each month, or part of a month, in the relevant period (within the meaning of section 31).

This is probably going to sound complicated but I'll try paraphrase it for you.

In addition to your liability under section 29 to a fine of £2500, if you are the registered keeper then you also have liability for £26.25 per month - starting with date tax was last in effect on the vehicle and ending on the date of the offence. As you say the car has been SORN'd for "a couple of years", that could add quite a sum to an already hefty fine.

I'm not trying to unnecessarily scare you, only lay out worst case scenario. I wholeheartedly think it would be in your best interests to try and source the money from somewhere. Of course, I appreciate its easier said than done for some people.