Advice please. Going to summoned to court over car tax

[FawkesBride]

I was given a police ticket on my car in July because my tax had expired the month before. Duh, I hadn't noticed. Anyway, bought new tax disc the next day.

I then received a form from DVLA asking if I was the driver and owner and whether the car had received ticket etc so I filled it out and posted it back - about 2 months ago.

Today I received a letter saying 'after careful consideration' they are sending it to court and I will shortly receive a summons.

Why can't they just fine me? What happens at court? Isn't this a huge waste of time and money?

I'm very pissed off.

The Court won't accept ignorance/dippyness as a defence, unfortunately.

You should have received a reminder letter, in any case, so you haven't really got a valid excuse unless you've recently moved house.

Our local courts usually seem to fine people about £75 plus costs, plus any back duty.

Of course you will also have the embarrassment of your name being published on the court roundup page of your local paper.

Be philosphical about it and learn from your mistake - it's not the end of the world.

Even if you didn't receive a reminder cos of moving house etc, that is not a valid excuse unfortunately. It's only a courtesy, the responsibility falls to the owner of the vehicle.

That said, you must be able to settle out of court. Have you called the DVLA enforcement office dealing with your court case? I am sure if you are willing to pay a fine without it going to court, they would take that.

I used to work for the DVLA, and not every case went to court.

Sure - I'm guilty and happy to pay a fine.

It's just that being a busy mother with 2 jobs, 2 school runs and too many DCs, who doesn't have time to remember to do her tax, I'm going to find it bloody hard to drive 30 miles to court. Also I have no babysitters and DH doesn't drive. So a fine through the post would be good. Ah well.

Don't care about having name printed. Locals all think we're barking already.

FawkesBride - def sounds like you need to take the advice re: phoning up. Surely if you only missed by a month they'd settle out of court? Would save you a lot of hassle.

I am sure if you rang up and explained your situation, telling them you know you did wrong, but would like to pay a fine rather than going to court, they'd be particularly pathetic not to settle out of court.

Like I said, I used to work for the DVLA, and lots of people would come in to talk to the Enforcement team, and usually ended up paying a fine and not going to court.

It's worth the price of a phone call??

r4m and i both obviously thinking of you at the same moment!

don't think they do reminders any more - we've certainly never had one (and I seem to remember there was some hoohah in the press about this - because lots of people relied on those reminders).

You can do it online now for future reference (though ours didn't work that way).

I still got a reminder for mine (it was due Oct). Did it online which works fine if you've got a new style MOT certificate - my colleague didn't so had to do it the old way.
I got fined for not taxing my old car even though I didn't have it anymore - must have forgotten to send something in. Didn't go to court though, just paid the fine over the phone. Think it was 40 quid.

By 'reminder' what I meant was the form telling you it's due. Mine came in the post yesterday - my car tax expires this month. You can apply on line or by phone from the 15th of the month in which it's due. You pay by debit card (no extra charge) or credit card (extra 2.5%). So even the busiest Mum will now find it dead easy - much better than rummaging to find your documentation, driving into town, finding somewhere to park, queuing at the Post Office...

The "reminder" form is just a courtesy, and if yours goes missing in the post or never arrives, the DVLA will not accept responsibility for it. Annoying I know!

FawkesBride - come on then - don't keep us in suspense! Are they going to let you off with paying the fine by post?

Hope that for this you can just pay a fine and get your points or whatever.

It costs an awful lot of taxpayers money to bring a case to court. I don't think that this waarants that expense.

I'm in a similar situation with them atm.
I forgot to declare my banger SORN whilst in the deep, dark dungeons of PND and 8 months preg with ds2 resulting in the car being declared SORN 3 weeks late.
I called them and was advised to write explaining my reasons and was told as my Doc could back my claims up they would not fine me. I did what they asked and in response they sent me a Claim Form/CCJ thing.
That reminds me, I must ring them actually.
I am now trying to negotiate a payment plan as I have to pay the fine and the costs of them getting the calim for drawn up.