DVLA £77 fine for no tax?

[Kurmet]

First of all hello everybody and maybe you can help me out on this:

2 months ago I bought a vehicle without any documents. As I wanted to tax it asap I sent my V62 to DVLA and kept my vehicle on public road hoping that no one would notice and I can get it taxed before the DVLA issues me any fine. Obviously I knew that it was illegal but it was the risk I had to take as I had no other place to keep the vehicle (why there is no "temporary tax" system created I do not know, it's really stupid and would be worth another thread). Well, anyway soon after I had to face consequences as my yet untaxed vehicle (as I was waiting for DVLA to send me V5) got towed away by DVLA to their local pound. In order to get it back I had to pay £160 release fee plus £120 surety fee. Fine with me as I was breaking the law. Few days after I got my vehicle back I finally received my V5 and taxed the vehicle and got my surety fee back as well. It all happened about month ago.

Now today I received a letter from DVLA that I must pay another £77 out of court settlement (that's an odd figure?) for not displaying the tax disc. To the point: is that normal? Because I already paid them £160. And is there a official website were all these fines / amounts are shown because neither the DVLA or directgov website tell anything about £77 fine?

Thanks for any reply, Kurt

[MrShed]

The fees you paid prior were the admin costs/release costs for the car. It was not the fine for the tax - as far as I know.

[Kurmet]

Alright, thanks for the reply. I just remembered that a friend of mine had a similar case 3 years ago i.e no tax on his car but his car got clamped and all he had to do was pay the fine/release fee (£80) and show a valid tax disc, there was no additional fine at that time. Maybe the law has changed....anyway, as long as it's legal by DVLA, it's fine with me. But I still could not find any website or law, stating that the penalty is £77 for not displaying the tax disc. Thanks again.

[buzby]

The cost may be related to the number of days the vehicle was untaxed?

[tifo]

no, it's an 'out of court' settlement, otherwise the court may fine you up to £1,000.

not displaying and not having are two different offences.

you can let them crush the car and not pay anything towards towing/release etc. or you can get the car back and pay these.

either way, you still end up paying the fine as an out of court settlement. They can add the number of untaxed days to this as well.

you get clamped/towed for not having it and fined for not displaying it. I know, how can you display something you haven't got and paid the charges for, but that's the way the law is.

there is case law to support a fine and no insurance and/or no MOT prosecution if you have no road tax and/or no MOT. Without these both, your insurance is not valid and you need insurance and MOT and road tax to park on a public road, even if you don't use the car. There's no getting out of it.