My son owns a non-existent car

[Spanishmain48]

Briefly, my son bought a car in March and taxed, Mot'd and Insured it. When no reminder came through for the 1st october taxation he contacted DVLA to be told it had been scrapped in June. He had not received a certificate of scrapping - well the car still exists and as a result cannot tax it. Everything stacks up, licence plate, VIN, log book etc., but the DVLA are proving a little less than helpful particularly as my son needs the car for work, living in a rural area with no public transport and starting work at 5 am. He has sent pictures with dated evidence to prove it exists but each time he contacts them he is told "it is the system and will take 2 weeks". Any suggestions as to how to crack this particular nut?

[Chesterexpress]

If he has the v5c (logbook), then he can tax it using that, and therefore does not require the reminder notice.

[crem]

No doubt even if/when DVLA get their act together and realise the car still exists, they will try and stuff your son with an 80 quid fine for late taxation (i.e. missing the 1st October) and not submitting a SORN!!

[patdavies]

As Chesterexpress says, use the V5 to obtain VED at a post office - you don't need the reminder notice.

The only useful function of the reminder notice is that you do not need to work out the amount you need to pay.

Once he has VED, he can legally drive the vehicle and continue to badger DVLA to get their act together - but he doesn't suffer in the meanwhile.

Until it is sorted out, I suggest that he carries the vehicle documents with him when driving, in case of an ANPR 'pull'.