DVLA

[N4m3Change]

Not sure if I am posting in the right place so sorry If I aint.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I came to find my car had been clamped with a ‘no tax’ notice on it. Confused as I pay direct debit tax (or so I thought) until I tang up DVLA and queried the clamp. They said that as I had gone past my MOT expiry last year they had stopped the direct debit...I told them I received no letters or correspondence to notify me the tax was stopping...in the end I paid the £100 to release the clamp and purchased tax straight away as I needed the car for work monday morning.

Am I within my rights to ask for a refund of the £100 clamp release because as I wasnt made aware of the direct debit stopping? Ive been left out of pocket now with me and my 3 children eating beans on toast this week as that 100 would have gone towards our weekly shop. The reason I missed the MOT was due to covid and the garages being shut and as soon as the opened I took my car for its MOT straight away. If id have known my tax would have stopped I would have obviously paid...

I thought garages have been open for MOT's? During the first lockdown there was a grace period of 3 or 6 months I think

Have you checked your emails? When they stopped mine they emailed me.

MOTs had an extension during the first lockdown; and then garages were open for MOTs. When did you miss it?

You’d usually get an email telling you the DD had stopped. What date did they stop it? Was it inside the exemption period?

Ive checked and I got nothing. No the garages round here were all closed.

@N4m3Change It won’t matter what local garages were doing. If it was during the exemption, they shouldn’t have stopped the DD. If it wasn’t; you had a reasonable reason to drive to wherever could do an MOT.

What date was it due?

You need ti check your bank statements as to when the dd stopped and if it coincided with the mot holiday.

You missed the email, that happens. How did you miss that they hadn't collected the direct debit though? That would seem to be several months of payments that didn't go out of your bank account.

I think you may have to suck this up. It was perhaps explainable, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a responsibility on you to notice they hadn't collected payment. And driving without tax is perhaps something you don't want to highlight as that would also be driving without insurance.

Garages were allowed to be open for MOT's. If they stopped taking your payments by direct debit for a few months, then you must have "saved" the £100 fine anyway.

Unfortunately in law, not being aware, is no defence.

Thats the thing though, I purchased insurance months after mot with no problems at all. I had a look through emails and just have done again and I had nothing from the DVLA at all. My car tax DD was £10 a month and tbh I dont check my back account direct debits unless I am notified of a problem and £10 is such little amount for me to notice wether its leaving or not.
My MOT was due end of March and the DD for tax stopped in April

Im happy to pay back the tax ive unknowingly missed, im just abit miffed about the clamp fee.

So no payments for close to a year?

So you have had 11/12 months of not paying tax? At £10 per month you'll have spent more than the £100 you've just had to pay.

As above though, ignorance is no defence with things like this.

Its not that I wasnt aware, its the fact they didnt send out any notice??

Yes, £10 a month for 12 months which im happy to pay back!

The 6-month extension on MOTs applied to cars that should have had an MOT between 30 March and 30 July 2020. There have been no other extensions.

There is nothing to stop you asking for a refund of the clamp release fee, but I doubt you will get it. Ultimately, it is up to you to ensure that your vehicle is taxed and has a valid MOT.

I would also add that the fact you didn't receive a notice does not prove they didn't send one. Whilst email is generally reliable, it isn't 100%. Some emails do go missing for various reasons.

I would just pay it. You've saved that money and more.

Ok, thank you all for your comments. Suppose its a lesson learnt to check my Direct Debits, though ive paid for 6 months tax now so hopefully il get a reminder through for when its next due. Thank you all again.

Come on OP, you've been driving without an MOT for 9 months! You're lucky you've only had £100 to pay frankly.

You can ask but I doubt you’ll get it, you have to renew tax every year so you should have a backup reminder somewhere of this. Letters get lost, emails marked as junk or overlooked. The onus is on you to make sure you’re tax, regardless of if they stopped your direct debit. Also find it odd your tax was cancelled as you missed the MOT. Every car that was granted an extension had their MOT date changed on the electronic system. My partners showed within 3 days of the Announcement and his wasn’t even due until the September! Did you go over the extension date too? It sounds like bad communication/admin on both ends, you be better just writing the £100 off. An untaxed car fine is £80 anyway, take it as a lesson to have more reminders

Its not that I wasnt aware, its the fact they didnt send out any notice??
Why should they have to? It's your responsibility to insure that your car is road worthy. They can send a notice out of courtesy, but they don't have to.