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?

I had to take my car to the garage after its MOT had lapsed (it had previously been booked in for the week before it lapsed but the garage cancelled and didn't have any more appointments for a fortnight).

I needed fuel and was investigating whether I'd be allowed to stop at a petrol station en route. I found that not only was that ok, but a guy who stopped at a petrol station solely to buy cigarettes on his way to the MOT also won his court case against the dvla. OP on that basis it seems that as long as the shops were in the same direction as the MOT test centre that you have a case? I totally get the point you're trying to make though and completely agree.

Yes, you're absolutely right about it costing more to be poor. We are financially comfortable, but my family were poor when I was a child, and I still have some of that mindset left over - I feel 'safer' spending smaller amounts regularly, rather than spending a larger amount upfront that will probably save me in the long run!

In relation to the fine, I am a criminal lawyer, and it's not clear what stage you are at. Have you recently had the fine, and you still have the option of paying or going to court to contest it? Or have you essentially accepted it, and they're now trying to enforce the debt? If it's the former, then you should have paperwork giving you various options, including pleading guilty and going to court. If you do this, then the court will look at your financial situation and either set up a payment plan then and there, or give you the details of the financial department to arrange affordable payments.

If it's the latter, then it's a bit trickier, as you have the option of forcing them to take you to court, where a payment plan is likely to be set up, and you won't have costs awarded against you for this amount. BUT, a CCJ will obviously damage your credit rating.

It sounds like the fine is likely to be upheld, unfortunately, as technically you have committed the offence, and they're likely to say that you should have made appropriate arrangements in advance, but in terms of the actual payment, you should be able to get some leeway. If you do finish up going to the civil court, make sure you have made a formal offer (in writing) of payment in instalments. The court is likely to be far more sympathetic if you've done everything you can.

"Pawn shop.

Xbox/phone laptop/tablet /gold"

Poor people don't have these things or have cheap phones! And it's stupid to pawn your laptop if you need it to look for work.

I know too late now but you can get number plates on ebay, delivered to your house for less than they cost in Halfords...
(I got mine for my bike rack and trailer like that - no problems)

It absolutely sucks. And it's not just the DVLA. The energy companies do this with meters. The supermarkets do it with corner shops for those who can only walk, which are more expensive than the huge stores for those with cars.

I really hope you can ring them up and negotiate something. And if you can't, I suggest ringing the local press and seeing if they are interested in covering it! (Sometimes they might be).

Wading in on scary's side. Can't comment on the number plate fiasco (although yes, they should let you pay ANY fine in installments if you are on a low income), but rather on the whole 'it's more expensive to be poor'.

I live in a village. A lovely, rural village. WITH ONE BUS A WEEK. I run a car. And, because I am very, very poor I run a battered, old gas-guzzler of a car. I HAVE to have a car (I'd never get to one job otherwise) and HAVE to have the internet and laptop (to do other job). DD2, who is an accountant, has a car on lease, which pays her insurance and service costs. Her car is zero tax, no MOT. Mine costs me a fortune in fuel and upkeep because I cannot afford a newer car. If the Govenment brings out the threatened sanctions on diesel cars I'm buggered.

And all because I'm poor.

great post CaptainBrickbeard

I really do sympathise with you OP. I am not poor but struggle at times its extremely stressful I hope things get better for you

From the GOV.UK site:

You can’t drive your vehicle on the road if the MOT has run out. You can be prosecuted if caught.

The only exceptions are to drive it:
-to or from somewhere to be repaired
-to a pre-arranged MOT test

As you weren't actually getting it repaired I think the fine stands.

Being poor is utterly shit and you are right to feel angry, if only more people could be supportive, rise up even, and say, bollocks to penalising the poor. Then we might get somewhere.
But just as some people are poor, others are entitled, compassion-free arseholes and so the disparity endures

I agree, it is so much harder if you have nothing to begin with. We had an awful few years a couple of years ago and the I found the worst people for dealing with was the council tax. It was escalated without prior warning (which I know is illegal but it happened) and we incurred so many extra fines, bailiffs adding charges. It was awful :( so I really empathise how difficult it is. How you feel sick every time a brown envelope falls on the doormat. We'd never been behind on payments for anything before, we'd just had a run of bad luck that didn't stop. I always think of the song fast car when ppl just don't get it

In a fair world they'd allow for installments which would mean people wouldn't have to chose between food and fines. They would not based on income though or arseholes like exbil who is self employed, rich and doesn't declare much at all so he avoids CSA, and other players like that get more and more.

I sympathise op, it's shit when you have little money or are on the breadline and an unexpected cost comes in. We were very lucky to have a good friend with a 0% credit card who paid an energy companies closing bill for us. We moved, had paid by the meter readings every month but they realised they'd fucked up and after 3 years being with them and leaving they gave us a 400 bill to pay off within the month, no installments either. After moving to a new place where we had no money because we has used it all for the deposit.

Have you been to see cab to see if they have any advice for you?

Interesting thread. As the law stands OP, you were in the wrong and don't dispute that. Your issue is that because you are not well off, then effectively you are penalised more than someone with resources in the bank. And you are 100% right. Similar with prepayment meters or loans targeted at the poorer sections of society.

I would imagine that the OP feels like not only is the system penalising her for being poor but some people are sitting in ivory towers and also blaming her for being poor.

Ultimately though this is about so much more than a fine. A system and society that only works for a few and not a majority becomes fractured and dangerous. This is why the BREXIT vote went the way it did and why Trump is possibly within a whisker of the Whitehouse.

Try the CAB for advice. They can be very helpful and will help you if at all possible.

This won't help much but can you set up dd payments for tax in future to avoid the bill or perhaps I've missed the point and it's just MOT related?

I agree RP

A system and society that only works for a few and not a majority but how is it working only for the few?

We all have to abide by the same rules. In this case it is clear, you can MOT your car a month before it expires, that you can only drive it to a 'pre-arranged' MOT appointment or repair.

Its the same rules for the OP, me, David Beckham blah blah

Absolutely Comforting. The rules are the same. However the punishment is £1000 more due to the OPs financial situation.

That's not a system that's fair.

Have you phoned the DVLA? Written? Pleaded to appeal to their understanding and compassion.
I have had many dealings with DVLA due to medical condition. I have spoken to some bad people. But in the end I cry and plead, and I get someone nice, who sorts it.

I start of all convinced that I am right. This gets me nowhere. When I get desperate and start to cry, that when my case gets resolved.
Sad. But true.
Worth trying?

I amazed at how easily people here make excuses for 'the man' against the poor...its almost like you've been trained < narrows eyes at the daily mail in costa, hotel lobbies, train stations, starbucks, neros, hospital shops amd wards, etc eyc

IT's not about making excuses for "the man" (puh-lease, btw). You have some good points about poverty and its costs.
However you've hitched your wagon to a faulty premise; YOU are responsible for getting clamped. No-one else.

Yes, I'm sure David Beckham may have stopped on the way to the mot to buy a cheaper number plate than the garage could offer. For sure.

When I get desperate and start to cry, that when my case gets resolved

I bet that's how David Beckham gets his fines removed too, by crying :o
Sorry I can't stop laughing sorry oblomov, I know it's not funny if you really aren't crying. But if it's works fir you it will work for Beckham too

I understand that there are some people who would refuse to pay the DVLA thus wasting court time which is why it's more at court.

However. If you had £300 you'd pay! Hardship should allow you a repayment plan. And court should be reserved for those who will not pay up.

It's the same with so many things in life and keeps people who are honest and hard working BUT POOR still poor while people who refuse to pay for the wrong cost us all more. And of course anyone able to pay can do so.

This isn't even about being rich, it's about hardship.

Yes but advice is available to inform everyone on how to avoid breaking the rules in the first place.

Everyone should check these things and if not sure, ask/

Yes but advice is available to inform everyone on how to avoid breaking the rules in the first place.

Everyone should check these things and if not sure, ask.

Don't scoff!
Oh I didn't do it to get let off. Well, yes I did, but it was genuinely wrong.

I had this with both DVLA and then the tax credits . Both, they had made a mistake not me. I phoned and phoned and wrote 2 times. And phoned. And then in total desperation, I totally lost it and started to sob. Not cry, sob.

Only then did I get resolution.

I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But I was just suggesting that you phone and calmly ask to appeal to someone's better nature. It just takes one sympathetic person, rather than a jobsworth.