Car fines - No tax

[mintymanda]

I am hoping someone can help me here as I really am stuck on this one. I had a car which ran out of tax. I live in a flat and we have private parking bays to the front of the block. I asked someone from my local council and two police officers, one being motorway police what the thing was for people who live in flats and have cars parked in these bays without tax. I was told as long as they were declared offroad by scorn then it was okay, so I did this. Now over the past couple of roads I have been receiving letters from the court saying that I owe over £1500 on charges for parking my car on a road for months without tax. I have paid £480 when the baliefs turned up trying to take my belongings but I really can not afford this on wokring tax credit and low wages. Is there anything I can do to protest these charges?

[Bailiffchaser]

for me to advise i would need to see the breakdown of the charges etc.

[mintymanda]

I will try dig out what info I have but I was on holidaya nd a balieff come round and left a letter with my brother informing us of the charges but had only one letter before that so don't think I really have anything with break down of the charges, which is one of the reasons I am so confused.

[Bailiffchaser]

Try this then. Send a sar off to the bailiff company. Also one off to where the fine came from. it will cost you a tenner each time but do not worry as it will cost them loads in the long run. !!!!!!!!!!

[livelylad]

I am hoping someone can help me here as I really am stuck on this one. I had a car which ran out of tax. I live in a flat and we have private parking bays to the front of the block. I asked someone from my local council and two police officers, one being motorway police what the thing was for people who live in flats and have cars parked in these bays without tax. I was told as long as they were declared offroad by scorn then it was okay, so I did this. Now over the past couple of roads I have been receiving letters from the court saying that I owe over £1500 on charges for parking my car on a road for months without tax. I have paid £480 when the baliefs turned up trying to take my belongings but I really can not afford this on wokring tax credit and low wages. Is there anything I can do to protest these charges?

 

I take it you sent the sorn off did you recieve conformation from DVLA?

[mintymanda]

Yeah i did send off the sworn which is one of the reasons I am so annoyed about it all. Ill advised by the police, council and the dvla and left with this massive fines and I do not know where I stand or what to do about it.

[Bailiffchaser]

Trust me with this one. write to the dvla as following. copy this word by word:

 

 

 

 

dear sir/madam

 

re (car model number colour)

 

 

please can you confirm since when the vehicle was last in my name.

my details are :

 

name add etc

 

 

yours sincerely

 

 

 

your name

 

 

 

this will trigger a report and this report will show when you ceased in being the keeper. it takes approx 2-3 weeks for it to come through. if you ask the offical way then you have to pay a fee and you get the same response as this.

 

you want to send this letter to :

the vip section

dvla

swansea

postcode is sa look on your log book

 

you should then recieve a reply confirming what details you are after if any joy then complain to dvla etc about it.

[mintymanda]

Thank you I will give this a try.

[stan5131]

Think you are at crossed purposes here Bailiffchaser. Mintymanda still has the car. It is not being used but is kept in a parking bay on the main road.

[mintymanda]

I no longer have the car actually. I taxed it, used it for about a month then sold it on.

[stan5131]

Yes, but at the time you got the fine, you still had the car, right?

[Bailiffchaser]

regardless of where it was parked unless on your own drive(main road still needs road tax) Then they are wrong however if parked o the main road(bay or no bay) then you are liable as it is still on the main road.

[stan5131]

But what has that got to do with who owned the car? She is not disputing ownership.

[livelylad]

I no longer have the car actually. I taxed it, used it for about a month then sold it on.

 

Ok as stansfield says, can we clarify the exact details of this claim. This will stop crossed wires and allow the correct advice to be given.

[mintymanda]

Yes when I first got the balief letter was about the time I sold the car but the dates on this went back to ages before when I did own the car. I just never got any court letters or anything before the baliefs turned up and handed my brother some letters as I was on holiday at the time. Our post round here is awful, our road name is practically the same as the road next to us other than for road and close and it has the same numbers and nearly the same post code so half our letters get lost round there and they do not have the decent manner to pop the letters through our door like we do theres or stick them back in the post box.

[mintymanda]

Okay my question is nothing to do with the owner ship of the car but whether there is any help with the fines. Can they really charge nearly £2000 in charges for no road tax on a 1.6 picasso. I thought the maximum was something like five times the ammount of a years tax or something like that. Also I feel that I was all to blame as I was told that the parking bay was fine by two different people (police/council etc) as long as I did a sworn declaration which I did.

 

Hope this makes more sense. Sorry for the cross wires.

[stan5131]

I dont think you are going to get out of the fine, however, I suspect that the bailiffs have added on excess charges. Bailiffs can only charge £22.50 for the first visit and £16.50 for the second. If they do not gain entry, they cannot make any further charges. I would send an SAR request to the bailiff company to find out what they have charged you. It is likely that you will be able to reclaim any excess fees.

[stan5131]

I would also speak to the council again and get them to confirm what they said in the first place. Get them to put it in writing for you and then you can challenge dvla about the fine.

[livelylad]

I dont think you are going to get out of the fine, however, I suspect that the bailiffs have added on excess charges. Bailiffs can only charge £22.50 for the first visit and £16.50 for the second. If they do not gain entry, they cannot make any further charges. I would send an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request to the bailiff company to find out what they have charged you. It is likely that you will be able to reclaim any excess fees.

 

This is good advice.

[survivor]

Who appointed the bailiffs..?? If they were appointed by the counil, then you were given incorrect information by the councils agent or representative when you made the first enquiry.

 

I beleive that if they had been appointed by the DVLA then the car would have been siezed and crushed if they hold no recod of the vehicle having been declared SORN.

 

Did ou ever have a ticket placed on the car for not displaying a valid tax disc??

 

Survivor

[patdavies]

 

Did ou ever have a ticket placed on the car for not displaying a valid tax disc??

 

Survivor

 

Careful. Failure to display is a whole different criminal offence; regardless of whether or not the vehicle is actually taxed.