DVLA Summons to court

[Herts]

I need some urgent advice as i am in despair!

Last year I came home from work and my car had been removed, i didn't know where or who had taken it as no information was left. About a week or so later i received a letter telling me that i pay alot of money or have my car scrapped. As at the time i was unemployed and the car had broken down and i couldn't fix it i didn't respond. I assumed that they would scrap it and that would be that.

I didn't hear from them again until recently i received a letter from the DVLA summoning me to court in October for Sectoin 29 (1) of the vehicle excise and registration act 1994. in the letter i am suppose to make a plea of guilty or not guilty and send to the court.

The other thing is it says the maximum penality on conviction is £1000, and i may be asked to pay £45 towards legal costs and £30 being the amount equal to the outstanding duty for the period 1/9/07 to 31/10/07.

Now reading your site i read that some people had receive settlement letters for £75 but i never received this letter. should I have and can i argue this.

The other thing that is really scaring me is that if i am convicted will i get a criminal record that will appear on CRB checks. This is a real concern to me as i work with young people.

Also i want to attend the hearing in october in person, is this allowed

I understand that i did not have road tax my stupid fault but it was at a time when i was really struggling financially and to be honest didn't know what to do with the car. But this seems really extreme for a £30 fine and also in the letter i simply thought scrapping it would end the matter. There is also something about statement of facts which i don't get.


Help and advice would be really appreciated on summons papers and what i can do.

Thanks very much

Herts

[old_andrew2007]

Bump

[Conniff]

Did you report the car as stolen to the police when it went missing?

[Herts]

No I did not report it to the police,

[Conniff]

As you did not report the car stolen, (the police would have told you where it was), you are lucky that you are not being charged with abandoning a car on the highway and failure to display as well.