dvla nonsense

[bigronbur]

hi there. im in a pickle with the dvla. help would be greatly appreciated.

 

i recieved a letter yesterday stating that my sornd car was seen being used/kept on a public road unlicensed.

 

to give a clear picture here are the details.

 

the car in question is kept behind my house in an off road area. the road in that leads onto the storage area does not have a road name and is a place for rubbish collection and access to the rear of the houses. i have assumed and i think rightly that this is a private road with it not being marked. if im wrong on this i will accept any wrong doing. this however is not the main issue.

 

i live on queen marys drive. now this is the amazing thing. the car was said to have been seen on king georges drive, the road opposite mind in the other direction from were the car in question is stored.

 

both are totally out of view and at least 100m from each other. i can assure you that the car has not been driven (i removed the distributer cap) or parked anywhere other than the formentioned location. the time the car is said to have been seen was recored as 02:55 hours on the 02/10/09? im assuming they use the 24hr clock. its rediculous. i drive a 3 series bmw why would i drive around in a racing green vx polo automatic anymore? im just to lazy to sell it.

 

they want me to pay an out of court settlement of £157. im going to question the claim but need some ammunition to fire at them. how can they prove it, can they tell me who made the complaint or the officer etc, can i get out of it, is it just a mistake?

 

help would be great.

[Lula]

A sorned car has to be on a private driveway or road that is not publically maintained, i would say that were you are keeping your car is publically maintained and so it liable for a fine, I would suggest that you move it immediately. Having said that, if the DVLA are saying that your car has been seen somewhere that is can't possibly have been, well, they should be able to prove it shouldnt they.

[bigronbur]

advice noted. do they need by law to be able to prove it? of so then they wont be able 2 because is wasnt there.

[Lula]

I dont know whether they actually have to prove it, fairness would say yes, of course they have to prove it, hopefully someone should be along shortly who will be able to answer.

[buzby]

They will probably have photos and a witness statement. As Lula mentions, SORN vehicles need to be on their own private property (driveway), any other spare ground is now fair game (per the Finance Act changes in 2008). The difference in the street name clearly is down to an error, but I'm unaware of a successful challenge due to this - as there is in the case of Fixed Penalty parking tickets). To challenge the evidence, you'll need to prove that wher the car WAS parked, you were the landowner or it was your own driveway - without this, they'll ultimately be successful.

[bigronbur]

thanks for the info. do you think i shud contest it or shud i just pay the fine. dont really want to get further into trouble if im in the wrong.

[buzby]

There's always a chance if you go the whole way, you'll come across a technicality that will make it go your way, but as you may see from other threads, they are doing their best to ensure SORNs only work when you have your own off-road property (which makes homes with their own driveways much much more valuable than previously). The Finance Act amendment (which limits where you can legally SORN) was sneaky Govt trick, and you have to expect that they will do all they can to ensure they get their money. By offering a fixed price resolution - it is a cheaper option to close the matter, but as I don;t think they take any mitigating circumstances into consideration, I don't have any idea as to how useful taking this stance will be at possibly reducing the fine.... back to the level they're currently offering).