Hi there
I'm still shaking from a visit from the DVLA clamping lorry and wondered if anyone can advise me please? I have a car which broke down a year ago and I've been meaning to sell it for parts but haven't yet sorted it out. As I wasn't using it (I have use of another car) I declared it off the road and have a SORN in place. The car was being kept on the road outside my house as I thought it was a private road (we pay a ground charge to a management company for its upkeep and there are no road markings at all) at the end of the cul-de-sac on the estate I live in. However to my horror today, the clampers came as the local council had apparently requested they clamp it, and were stood looking at it (they were also unsure whether it was a private road). When I challenged them they decided to check with their boss by phone and in the mean time a neighbour helped me push it onto my drive so they couldn't touch it. They said they were going to take photos of me moving it (which they probably did though I didn't see this happen) and that if it turned out to be a public road they would be reporting the offence of keeping a car on the public highway with a SORN.
I'm now really worried that not only am I liable to be fined up to £5000 (and possibly imprisoned??) for the SORN offence but now the insurance laws have changed am I going to get done for this too if the SORN was not valid by the car being on a public road. I truly believed my road was private but if the council have ordered the clamping then it can't be.
Any idea what sort of fines or points I'm facing and whether the insurance thing is also an issue? Is there anything I can do to argue? I'm very grateful for any help.