Police fixed penalty fine for no insurance - but DVLA has his licence - mass frustration

[Goldenoldy]

Hi,

I’m writing on behalf of my friend whose English is not great.

 

He recently received a £300 fine plus 6point penalty due to letting his car insurance lapse.

He’s accepted the responsibility and wants to settle the issue.

 

However his driving licence has been with DVLA for over twelve months now. He had medical issues and couldn’t drive for three years. This passed and he was deemed fit to drive and had his licence back etc. 

 

he needed to renew his licence last year and sent off the forms. Because of previous health issues it has taken longer to get his licence back. He has letters from DVLA saying he is ok to drive etc.

 

when he got the police fine notification he sent off the forms plus a covering letter explaining that his licence is still with DVLA. He has rung the DVLA but got nowhere.

 

The police sent back his forms saying he needed to send his licence. He resent it all with a fresh covering letter plus his old out of date licence but has received it all back as unacceptable.

 

What can he do?

No one answers the phone either with the police or the DVLA.

 

He is worried it will end up in court when he actually wants to pay the fine and get it settled.

 

Any advice welcome.

 

Thanks.

G.

[Man in the middle]

If he cannot accept the fixed penalty within the 28 days he has to do so, he will be prosecuted in court. His case will be dealt with under the "Single Justice" Procedure and he will be sent paperwork (principally a "Single Justice Procedure Notice") asking he to make a plea. He can plead guilty and ask to be sentenced at a level equivalent to the fixed penalty. Magistrates have guidance allowing them to do this:

 

"Where a penalty notice could not be offered or taken up for reasons unconnected with the offence itself, such as administrative difficulties outside the control of the offender, the starting point should be a fine equivalent to the amount of the penalty and no order of costs should be imposed. The offender should not be disadvantaged by the unavailability of the penalty notice in these circumstances."

 

There's no need for him to panic about this. If he gets his licence back in time, fine. If not, he has the above remedy available to him. The police have six months (twelve months in Scotland) from the date of the offence to begin court action and in many areas they take nearly all of that time.