Failure to give driver details - lost £1400!

[Lipe110]

Really need some advice here....I'll try to keep this as short as possible.

 

Friday (8/4/2016) I parked on a public road near a dog park.

I'm in the park and next thing I know I see someone clamping my car.

 

 

After speaking to the enforcement agent (he worked for Marston Holdings)

he told me that there was a warrant out for an outstanding debt which I had not paid.

 

 

He looked it up and apparently someone driving my car had committed an offence on the 21st September 2015,

I had been contacted to provide the driver details and had not responded

so the case went to court and I was charged with failure to provide driver details to the court (HMCTS London NW).

 

He showed me all of this on an iPad but could not tell me what the original offence was.

He then said it was late (it was around 4pm on a Friday) and the office would be closed

so I would have to wait until Monday to find out what the original infraction was.

 

 

The unusual thing however was that on the enforcement details/warrant they had my father's information

(we have the same name but it was his DOB and NI number) and he passed away in 2012!

 

The other problem was that I moved house in 2013 and did not tell DVLA

hence why I didn't see any of the letters I assume they sent to me at my old address.

 

 

the overall fee was at £1400

(£961 was the original debt, £235 enforcement stage, £75 compliance stage and another £110 for the tow truck).

I waited until the last minute to see if this was all legit but the tow truck came and I ended up paying the full amount

 

I'm not sure exactly how to proceed....

I am thinking to contact Marston Holdings and ask to be sent a copy of the warrant,

find out what my initial offence was and ask to see evidence of that and proceed from there.

 

Has anyone been in a similar situation or know what I should do here?

 

 

can I get my money back?

 

 

Any help/replies are kindly appreciated.

[unclebulgaria67]

Think you can only check with the court the offence committed last September and take it from there. Unfortunately not advising DVLA of a change of address is not going to help you.

 

I think your Dads details were written on documents by mistake when they were trying to trace you.

 

Once you have more information about the offence, do come back for more advice.

[Tony P]

Think you can only check with the court the offence committed last September and take it from there. Unfortunately not advising DVLA of a change of address is not going to help you.

 

I think your Dads details were written on documents by mistake when they were trying to trace you.

 

Once you have more information about the offence, do come back for more advice.

 

I don't see that the motoring offence is relevant at this point, other than as a bit of interest.

The conviction offence was an administrative one of a Registered Keeper failing to supply driver details.

 

It needs to be known if this was against the deceased person in error. I think this unlikely as, AFAIK, summonses etc do not identify the 'accused' beyond the name and address and such a case would clearly have been against the RK.

 

Others will confirm about the OP getting the current conviction cancelled via a Declaration at the Court that he was unaware of the case.

 

This would effectively reopen the original matter for the authorities to pursue from the start again, subject to possible time limits.

 

I don't know how this affects his payment but I would have thought if the conviction is cancelled the fine etc and resulting costs are also cancelled.

 

The RK will no doubt have some difficulty over not notifying DVLA of his Change of Address, but this is a separate matter.

 

EDIT: I believe the conviction carried 6 points. The OP may consider £1,400 worth paying for these to remain on his Fathers licence instead of his own.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Tony P
Afterthought!

[unclebulgaria67]

They seemed to be unaware of any offence involving their car last September. Because they had not advised DVLA of their new address, they did not get the correspondence.

 

Can they make a declaration to a court based on not having received communications and get it back to the start of the process ?