Court summons for having no tax whilst in garage for repairs

[soldier786]

Hi. I received a NO ASN required dated 7th of July 2015 to attend court on 10th August for keeping a motor vehicle on the road whilst a Statutory Off Road notification declaration was in force.

 

My car had been towed away on 8th June 2015 after I had it recovered to a garage for repair work. At the time the vehicle was untaxed and was on SORN. The vehicle got towed whilst being in possession of the garage and going through repairs, assuming it was taken on the road for a test drive. Since the towing I paid the fine and taxed the vehicle immediately. Can you kindly advise if I can appeal this is in anyway or come to an out of court settlement?

[Conniff]

Disregard that email about SORN. Being on the road while sorn isn't a problem while in a garage if they had fixed red plates.

 

You should have paperwork from the garage showing that it was in their charge at the time of the offence.

 

Contact the garage and see what they have to say about it.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Conniff

[soldier786]

Thank you Conniff. The garage didn't know that the vehicle was SORN declared and hence didn't have red plates on. However I have receipt to show that it was in their possession at the time of it being on the road. As the summons is on Monday I am assuming its too late to call DVLA to negotiate or reach an out of court settlement, what's your best advise?

[Conniff]

It matters not if it was sorn or not, without the red plates, the garage will have taken it on the road without insurance.

 

From all the posts on all the sites across the whole interweb, DVLA wont' negotiate, they don't give a damn.

 

You need to get the garage to admit that is was in their possession at that time, ring the garage now or first thing in the morning and tell them you have a summons for the car being on the road while in there possession and what do they intend to do.

 

You have left it a bit late, I can't see what else you can do at this late stage except get an admission on paper to show the court. Better than ringing them, visit them first thing, these things are much easier to sort out face to face.

 

Do you have a receipt for the work done ? that should have the date on it.

[soldier786]

That shouldn't be a problem. I will pop in first thing tomorrow morning to get an invoice from them. I will be asking for a letter to state that the vehicle was in their possession for repairs at the time. Does an admission from the garage implicate them in any way? Can I reassure them that its not going to haunt them?

[Conniff]

I wouldn't think so as most garages put their red plate on the rear parcel shelf when out for a quick drive. That's not really allowed, but they could say they had one and it wasn't seen.

[Raykay]

As the car was towed, I expect they would have noticed the trade plates if they were there, and the garage would want them back.

[soldier786]

RESULT!

So I went to the court on Monday and as Conniff suggested got a letter and invoice from the garage confirming they were in possession of the vehicle at the time. I spoke to the prosecution team before the hearing and explained the situation, presented the letter from garage and voila! The prosecutor was satisfied that it was a genuine mistake and weren't going to take it any further and dropped the charges Phew!!

 

Thank you for your helpful advise Conniff!

[Conniff]

My pleasure. The DVLA really does have the worse customer service or is it that they have orders from on high to make as much money however they can