failure to supply information for a car I have sold

[namechangeforthisobvs]

I sold a car privately at the end of last year to a person who responded to an advert who was previously unknown to me. filled in the V5 and posted off to DVLA without retaining any details.
3 months later, the car has been caught speeding and I have been asked to supply the name of the driver . i give the contact name and number as this was all I had and I am now being taken to court for failure to provide information sufficient detail of the identity of the driver. The DVLA have supplied evidence that I am no longer the keeper and was not the keeper at the time of the offence. I have pleaded not guilty ( Which I am) but now face a magistrates court later this year, the consequences seem to be loss of licence and a substantial fine .
Should I get a lawyer? The loss of licence is a real concern to me. I cannot see how I have done anything wrong but the fact that this has proceeded this far is concerning. I need my licence for work and I am also a carer for a family member. The lawyer will cost a lot and this is causing me a huge amount of stress . Please can someone advise on whether I need a lawyer and also what the chances are of me being found guilty despite me not owning the car. TIA

This sounds like an admin error i would phone the court up if you have submitted the evidence from DVLA that you were not the registered keeper

Phoning the court won't get you anywhere I'm afraid. Court staff can't make decisions on cases.

In theory you shouldn't have a problem. You gave all the information you had, which is all you are required to do. However, the penalty if you are found guilty is 6 points and a fine of around 1.5 weeks wages. You shouldn't need a lawyer, but magistrates can be unpredictable, so the question you need to ask is whether you can take the risk.

thank you both for the help. I don’t think cal like my the court will help. I am trying to get legal advice. I still cannot believe this has got as far as the court . As I understand it, I have shown reasonable diligence to supply information . I am concerned how I go about proving I don’t have any more details to give . 6 points is less of a concern but the letter I received listed loss of licence as a possible outcome.

gah the typo! Calling the court*

I would phone dvla for information/ advice.
Are you in a union? They can give legal advice.
Do you have a receipt for sale with any details?
All just thoughts.

@namechangeforthisobvs for legal advice, check your car insurance as they may provide legal services free of charge, if you have AA/RAC cover they may also provide legal cover depending on your level of cover (they were brilliant for us). You may also have legal cover on other insurances or even if you are a union member - all dependant on your plan(s).

I would hope that any magistrate would see how ridiculous this is when you have dvla saying you didn’t even own the car at the time of the offence. I don’t see what they are hoping you could provide over and above what you gave to dvla on the v5? Unless I’m missing something such as we now have to take a photo of the new owner ?!

Who issued the notice, who are you expected to face in court? This is ridiculous. DVLA have confirmed it. Did you get the confirmation email from DVLA about the change of keeper?

my thinking is that whoever is taking you to court hasn’t registered the evidence that you sold the car. Can Citizens Advice help?

You will only lose your license if you already have 6 points or more within the last 3 years, and that is assuming you are found guilty.

You are being sued under Road Traffic Act 1988 section 172. Section 172(a) requires the keeper of the vehicle to give whatever information the police require. However, as you have clear evidence that you were not the keeper on the date in question, that does not apply. Section 172(b) requires anyone who is not the keeper to "give any information which it is in his power to give and may lead to identification of the driver". You have done that, so you do not appear to have committed any offence.

prh47bridge , thank you so very much for this information. This has reassured me that we haven’t missed something we should have done and has lifted a huge weight off my mind. I do not understand how it has ended up in court but I now feel more confident that I will not be found guilty (hopefully although I have now lost some faith in the system ). I am very grateful to you and others who have commented.
this has come from the Met.

Presumably you received a refund of the vehicle tax from DVLA following on from your notification to them that you sold the vehicle, so that will be evidence that were no longer the keeper, the evidence being both the letter attached to their refund cheque and the cheque itself paid into your bank account.

I don't suppose you kept proof of postage of sending the change of ownership slip to DVLA?

It's come from the Met, so is there a way you can forward correspondence to them?

I'm so sorry. This is utterly ridiculous.

When I last sold a vehicle (mum's) I got an email confirmation. Do you have a bank record for the transaction by any chance? If not, as per a pp, a record of the tax refund?

I'd actually let the local MP know as well in case they can help.

thank you all again. This continues to reassure me. i have evidence of the tax refund into my bank account, I have proof of the bank transfer for the car together with the buyers names as well as written proof that the DVLA had received the V5 form. I forwarded this information to the Met along with the name and phone number of the buyer which was all I had retained as and when they requested and in the required time frame. they decided to proceed with the charge of failure to supply details and have now summoned me to court. I was hoping that this was an admin error but had this doubt that I was maybe missing some requirement that I wasn’t aware of. Thank you, thank you - I feel a lot less worried about the situation now.

Honestly, the way things are these days, it might not just be an admin error.

It might even be that they sort cases by an algorithm and it’s gone horribly wrong as they often do.

If you can phone somebody there, I would do that. Or have you already spoken to someone to confirm that the DVLA passed the information on?

As @prh47bridge stated (who is a solicitor and knows their onions) As long as you can prove you were not the registered keeper your obligations are limited to providing whatever it is you knew , which you have done.

So the only thing left to do is show up and complain very loudly about the waste of public money and your costs.

I would hazard a guess that the CPS on the day will either withdraw or “offer no evidence.

I would in your shoes lodge a complaint to the Met.

Thank you to everyone who gave advice to me, it was all much appreciated
I had my court hearing this morning and the prosecution withdrew. I still cannot understand how I ended up having to go to court and the absurdity of it all made me wonder whether they would actually end up finding me guilty in the end.
After much stress over the last few months I am going to enjoy a bit of sunshine this afternoon.
Thank you all.

Thank you for coming back and updating us @namechangeforthisobvs

What a ridiculous waste of time and resources. Glad it's all sorted for you but it's outrageous it even got this far

Absolutely bonkers! What a waste of time and resources, plus lots of unnecessary stress for you.