QUICK ADVICE PLEASE!!!

[AnotherEffingOrangeRevel]

Have clearly forgotten to pay car tax this year 😱😩 and have returned to car after work to find big sticker saying DVLA notified. Should I leave it here overnight to avoid even bigger fine, or can I drive it home? Also, online it says I could get fined "up to" £1000 and I'm panicking. Will it really be this much, if I tax it now and pay back tax???

TIA

Just tax it now so you can drive it home.

Can you pay it online now?

How long ago was it due? I would just pay it now and deal with the back payment later.

Thank you! I've tried to tax it here but don't have the documents with me and so they won't let me use online system...

I was the same - totally forgot to tax it and I couldn't tax it online due to the Mot also running out
Mine was clamped so I paid for the clamp to get taken off and a surety fee which i got back because I taxed it within so many days.
If it helps I was only fined £60 once it was all taxed and sorted etc.

I’d drive it home and immediately pay for my tax

Mines just Ona monthly direct
Debit these days which randomly was cheaper than paying it all in one go

Thank you all - have managed to tax it online after calling my partner for the ref number. Really hope the fine isn't £1000 😩

Thanks again

Similar thing happened to my mum. We were out together and got back to the car to find it clamped. She had forgotten about it for 6 months as she'd just moved around the time of the renewal. She had to pay back payment and next 6 months / ensure she was taxed now. She also had to pay a fine on the spot of 120 pounds (I think) so hopefully it won't be 1000. I do my tax monthly by direct debit so I don't forget about it!

It won’t be £1,000. Even when they get to court (after several opportunities to settle out of court) I have never yet seen a fine of £1,000.

Depending on how long it was untaxed the fine is either 0.5, 1 or 1.5 times your weekly income.

Found this on-line, relating to driving an un-taxed vehicle without a SORN:

Out of Court Settlement (OCS) letter issued.
OCS set at £30 plus one and a half times the outstanding vehicle tax rate.
If settlement is not paid, as a criminal offence the case may be pursued via the Magistrates Court. Penalty is the greater of £1,000 or five times the amount of tax chargeable.

Don’t worry, it won’t be £1000
My DH forgot to tax recently and was fined about £400 I think.

I also did this this year - moved house, had a baby, completely forgot to sort the cars (yep, 2 fines) and was none the wiser until I got a letter saying my details and debt had been passed to a 3rd party debt collection agency. Arrgh!

Next day, called up DVLA. They were absolutely lovely. Paid fine - was £80 for each car - and paid back tax, and all caught up.

Hope that helps - I felt like a right idiot too, but these things happen.

The fine was nothing to do with DH’s income - he is self employed and they didn’t ask for any evidence of income.

Thank you all for sharing - I feel slightly less stupid in such excellent company, and hopeful that the fine won't be as horrific as I thought, with any luck.
Thanks again you lovely people

Enidblyton1 The fine was nothing to do with DH’s income
If it goes to court the fine will be income based and all defendants are asked to complete a means form to enable that to happen.

I assume your DH settled out of court before court proceedings were started. Or potentially didn’t fill in the means form in which case an average income of £440pw is assumed.