What is it with being poor..

[scaryclown]

That makes everything more expensive??

I'm fuming/despairing at the moment. I've just managed to get control of my money after a period with no income and no soon as i get my first month finishing with £10 spare the fucking DVLA have written to me to trap me thus...

pay £300 or so quid NOW or we will take you to court where you will have to pay £1000. You cant pay in installments.

so because i'm poor, i'm forced to go to court to be charged £1000 because the court CAN enforce installmemts to pay...

fir a wealthier person, this is inconvenient and manageable, for the poorest its MORE EXPENSIVE ..

what the hell?

Also the reason is that i was clamped for pulling up on my 'to the MOT station' journey to collect the numberplate that i needed to pass the MOT and PAY THE DVLA ...they also charged me £260 to unclamp the vehicle.

UTTER BASTARDS...

my food bill is £120 a month

WIBU to put their windows in?

My friend was lecturing me on how I could save on insurance

I don't have the upfront payment to change insurance companies if I did i would or apparently I could pay it all off in one go that saves money

She has never ever had to worry about money but thinks because she is frugal it's the same thing as she doesn't waste money some just doesn't get it and I am in an ok position compared to many and things are getting better but I am still often left with only £10 in my purse

For fuck's sake, 50.

Yes, I've never had to worry about money. Neither has DH. And yet I can still try to come up with a reason why the OP needed the car. I'm sure she didn't just want it because she enjoys paying fines....

Think. Or at least try to pretend you're able to feel some compassion.

scaryclown have you tried to appeal the parking clamping ticket at all?.

Its surprising that quite a few of these do get overturned.

50BalesofHay

As well as infuriating, I find people like you quite interesting. What do you actually see when you see a homeless person sitting in the street? Do you think oh, there's plenty of jobs out there, it's just a case of making an effort, blah, blah, blah. Or can you see the truth. Perhaps ex services or a life in care, possibly mental health problems/relationship breakdown, and nobody - really nobody - to turn to. Where will they find out about the job, have a shower, a clean change of smart clothes for the interview, who will be their reference?

The OP has made an excellent point. Many posters have provided examples to support her assertion that life is more expensive if you have limited funds. Why are you trying to pick apart the OP's life style choices? Are you uncomfortable that life really can be like this, or are you just unkind?

It's true, savings are only for those with money.
I have enough to buy in bulk saving myself loads in the longer term.
When I couldn't afford to everything worked out so much dearer.

You tend to only get bills when you're skint. If you have a buffer, you rarely if ever need to use it.
I've been where you are, you have my sympathy.

Rich people would have got their Lawyer to send a letter and it all be over by now.

Not necessarily. If she had an illegal plate, she had an illegal plate and that warrants a fine.

You do know solicitors fees would be more expensive than the £300?

If OP has internet, a mobile phone, pc/laptop they are not poor, they are luxuries not necesseties. As is a car.

thanks Gillybeanz..

QueenlizII ..who had an illegal plate? you are making that up with help from becca. Its made up. Gossip.

Wealthy people DO spend money on lawyers to 'wim' at the expense of good rational economic decisions, so dont be daft.

internet= pub downstairs.
mobile= better economic sense to keep for wifi calls etc as is worth less than £5 anyway.
Lapto resale circa £20 so economically silly to sell, as valuable for work, seeking work, internet billing (saves a few quid) and comms (letters are more expensive)
Car was necessary to keep job as job was not on public transport routes and with no helful lift share people much to my annoyance. Still poor, and partly because of car.

why do people like that think the poor shpuld be on bread and water??

also laptop means no telly at all.

Wealthy people DO spend money on lawyers to 'wim' at the expense of good rational economic decisions, so dont be daft.

How do you know that?

I have never had any client of mine pay me £500 + VAT on account before I do any work (which is what I'd ask for) to dispute a £300 fine. So dont be daft.

If you live in London with the tube then a car is a luxury. If you live in the sticks with a couple of buses a day then it's not a luxury. If you have kids internet isn't a luxury, it's how they do their homework and more and more govt depts require that forms etc are done online. You'd not be able to sell a PC or laptop for enough to cover the bill anyway.
I'd try to appeal OP, you never know the fine might be reduced. Worst case scenario they fine you the £1k. You also have my sympathy life can be shit when you're poor.

er really. do you expect me to dignify that with a rational.answer?

I'm not sure you are clever enough, or poor enough to be anywhere near this discussion.

You are just coming off as having a very big chip on your shoulder and I am finding it very hard to sympathise with you at all.

Your tax and MOT ran out and you got fined.

DEAL WITH IT.

Most people dont have £300 in their back pocket and if you cant tax and MOT your car on time dont bloody run one.

I'm not sure you are clever enough, or poor enough to be anywhere near this discussion. charming

Its alright, i just wanted to lance the judgemental boil.

The facts are (solicitors note) that the vehicle needed a repair at renewal time that took fpur weeks. It couldn't get an MOT during that time as the repair may not have returned the vehicle to use. It did. I did a series of tests myself and determined that it may need some new bulbs which i replaced, and a new plate which i arranged to be ready for the day.

The legal position is that you are given leave to drive the vehicle to the MOT station. en route i stopped ti collect the plate so that the dvla could get its money that afternoon. I was clamped in that period, on a highway en route to the mot station.

I have been charged £260 already and the DVLA seek a further £300 or so (£1000 if you dont 'settle out of court' without installmemts).

A solicitor charging £500 plus vat to recover charges and prevent £1000 fine would be worth it.

Wealthy people i know recently spent £80,000+ to win a situation where submission would have cost them £20,000.

If i had a lawyer on retainer or with a client account i might use one for this. I would expect a junior to write the letter and to pay £200.

I certainly wouldnt pay a solicitor who cant do maths and is unaware af the relevant law, or who is comdescending to low income clients.

You can only drive an unMOTed vehicle to the MOT appointment. You took a risk and left your untaxed, unMOTed vehicle on a public highway to go to a shop. It is not clear whether you even had an MOT appointment booked for your journey. You were caught and need to deal with the consequences. This situation is of your own making.

Lots of people are poor for reasons that are not their fault and I sympathise with them. It is hard to keep afloat and one unexpected bill can have huge ramifications. However, I do get fed up of people whining on about how unfair it is and blame the government and everyone else for their fuck ups.

Cannot 15 of us give this poor woman £20 each into a paypal account? I will.

I don't care if the OP was driving to buy a pack of fags and liter of cider for her 12 year old...it's shit. It's so disempowering and the reason packed up and moved abroad.

OP, I'll lend you the cash. I know exactly how you feel and much as I hate them, you can't win against the DVLA. Pm me if you want to take me up. No hassles

Thanks Curviest, but don't do that, there are much greater needs than mine, and i'm motivated to argue with the dvla now. wankers.

TheAnswerIsYes has an interesting perspective ..i believe the story but not the tiny bit about whether there was 'even an appointment' of course there was, otherwise I'd just be randomly driving to a garage.

When ypu saying 'people' do ypu mean me? Its not my fuck up here, its the implicit anti-poverty structure of the economic behaviural managememt system set up by the dvla..ie its a deliberate behavioural management system set up in policy, by sophisticated people, who have set it up both to dissuade poor people from being open to courts determining appropriate penalties, and yet simultaneously locking them using fear to percieve the 'fuck you payme' no questions apprach as more beneficial than the legal route. Further the complicity of the governmemt in ratifying and allowing these automatic, non-negotiable out of court settlements (which of course would become negotiable for companoes or the wealthy) that means its the perfect example of how layers and layers of agression keeo me from holding on to the timiest fist of fivers, but allow wealthy people to get a smooth ride for free. its disgusting.

And then you have 'solicitors'on here, who believe gossip and relay it as fact, who cant cpunt, and people like 'Theanswer' who weirdly try and undermi n e just a tad further just to be another person in the subset of people who blame the recipient of bad policy rather than those paid fortunes to get it right.

Its well disgusting...

Good god. I feel as if I've fallen down a rabbit hole into Daily-Mail-land.

OP, ignore all the judgemental stuff you've been subjected to and please write and explain all the circumstances to the DVLA, then appeal, if necessary, and explain and appeal some more if you need to. All the way to court.
As previous posters have said, the £1,000 is a maximum and you may well not have to pay as much. And you would get time to pay. But you may have extenuating circumstances and courts have it in their power to be lenient. Also the fact that you have been communicating with the DVLA over the debt, trying to explain the circumstances and not just ignoring it, demonstrates you are being responsible about the matter and trying to put forward your case and reach a solution. Good luck.

It's shit OP. We have been very poor and only got through due to the generosity of our church. I was musing this the other day, when buying kitchen rolls in bulk rather than not bothering buying a pack of two, because I can actually afford the $8.
I hope if you do end up going to court you get a reprieve.

Ladiva I don't know what century you think this is, but Internet access is a necessity. I got the Internet at home about 5years ago, reluctantly, and only when I realised it was costing me more than £20 a month to do all my business in a net café. As for a phone being a luxury, you might as well say that wearing shoes is.

Op I'm sorry about this situation, it sucks badly. I once got stopped on my way to an MOT - they rang the garage to confirm I had an appointment and that was the end of it. I can't see why similar can't be applied to you.

The internet is not a luxury in 2016. And neither is a car in most circumstances, except possibly if you live in a city with an excellent, cheap public transport network and have 1 child or less, that you never need to pick up from someone else's house or take to an activity out of town.

Op I would fight this in your shoes, I wish I had the money to lend you.

Please continue to "moan" away about the unfairness as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps one or two of the DM types will finally get the point.

Good luck in court. I don't know if they will grant you grace on this one as it's a bit 50/50 how you interpret the journey as one or two. Perhaps post in legal how best to tackle this?

My take would be to go in apologising and explaining it was a genuine mistake as you thought it would be classed as one journey. Ask for clemency. Problem is, ignorance is no defence.

Griffin
Fines should not be incremental. That's what taxes are for, i.e. Income tax and higher road tax for gas guzzlers etc. The government needs to apply tax fairly to all individuals, who meet the criteria and especially super rich companies, which pay peanuts.

To digress slightly, it also annoys the hell out of me that the government and local government (Councils) leech off motorists in general. The fines levied if you leave your car even a few minutes over the allotted time are way out of proportion, even if you pay the lesser amount up front (which I confess I always do).

The timings have recently been changed in my local Council car parks, in my view to maximise fine potential. They claim to be magnanimous and offer the first 30 minutes free, but a number of people don't realise that you still have to display a ticket, even if you are there for less than five minutes or after 6.30pm, so they get fines. The next time slot is 90 minutes, so probably not quite long enough for lunch or a major shop (lucky to afford it, I know), so many get trapped by underestimating how long they will be, especially if shops busy, service slower than expected etc.

After that, it's 3 hours, with a big hike in price. I now do generally pay for 3 hours even if I think I will be less than 90 minutes, as I don't want to be a sitting duck for the Council. However, there is a code of dishonour amongst fellow motorists, who always pass on unused tickets if there is a good amount of unused time.