Hi

I am a new member to the forum and hope that you could help on this matter.

I registered my car as SORN due to Engine problems, my understanding being SORN, , is "Off Road", and had my car parked in front of my drive, until one day the council came and placed a disable sign in front of my drive to accommodate a neighbor who lives 2 doors away with a disable family member. as such i had to move/push my car and parked it on the pavement outside my house.

couple a days ago i came home to find a letter from DVLA stating that my vehicle had been reported to DVLA and that they have a photographic evidence with a fine of £400, which has to be paid fully and without installment option.

I now understand that although it's off the road, the pavement is still technically part of the public highway

Alternatively, should i take the pro-active approach, and contact the DVLA claiming a mis-understanding of the SORN rules and attempt to come to a compromise?

I am not sure what to do with this. I am planning to phone them and arrange a monthly payment as I can't afford to pay the sum in one go.

Help me please. Thank you

Thread title inserted.

Andy

...one day the council came and placed a disable sign in front of my drive to accommodate a neighbor who lives 2 doors away...

What do you mean 'in front of my drive' ? Do you mean across the opening of your driveway ? Do you have a dropped kerb infront of your driveway opening ?

Yes that is exactly it. across the opening of my driveway and yes I have a lowered.dropped kerb.

If that is the case, why did you move your car ?

If you have a legit driveway entrance, the council wouldn't put a disabled bay across it.

Are you sure it was the council that put the sign there ?

Or could it have been a neighbour ?

What kind of 'sign' ?

Do you mean a car's length disabled bay ?

You made a mistake moving your vehicle onto the public highway.

Put it back off road asap.

Do you know if the DVLA have actual proof ?

Did they put a sticker on the window of your vehicle ?

Have they sent you a photo of the vehicle 'on road' ?

This may seem like lots of questions, but you haven't given much info to go on.

I have moved the car because I didn't want to get in trouble with the council as disable bay means only for disable badge holders only.

I do have a legit driveway entrance with dropped kerb and the council did it as I have an email from the Technical officer ( engineer) sent to the neighbor.

The sign is the same one that we see in hospitals and other parking spaces designated for disable members however it's painted white.

it is a car length disable bay.

Now i realise that I have made a mistake by moving it but i was trying to avoid conflicts with the council and not knowing that i will be punished by DVLA.

On the DVLA letter they said that they have a photographic proof but they haven't put any stickers on the window and didn't send any photo of the car on road/pavement.

Thanks for your reply and I hope this helps.

I have moved the car because I didn't want to get in trouble with the council as disable bay means only for disable badge holders only.

Yes, but your car wouldn't have been in a disabled bay, would it ? It would have been on your own driveway, YOUR property.

that's right.

the car was kept in own driveway.

this is until I took it to a garage trying to fix the problem using recovery car service.

The car stayed with the garage for couple of weeks with no success.

In the meantime the council has installed the disable sign and neighbor started using the disable bay.

When I took the car back home ( using the recovery service again)

I just dropped it/parked the car at the nearest available space near to my house.

in-hindsight I didn't think that was a problem, I know now that this was a mistake.

At this point I just want to write to DVLA explaining the situation and maybe arrange some form of payment and would appreciate your help with a template letter/appeal against the £400.

stuck between council and DVLA . (I guess the law does not protect the fools)

your help /advise in this matter is much appreciated.

Thank you

You never said any of this until now.

Why did you not tackle the council about the disabled bay being across your driveway ?

It is blocking access to your driveway.

Because of the disabled bay you couldn't put your car back on your driveway so they should be the ones paying the DVLA fine.

agree with that........

I wonder whether it is a private driveway or just an allocated parking space which is not actually off a public road as such. One of the spaces has since been changed to disabled parking bay and when the OP parked back near this, a councils Civil Enforcement Officer has reported the car as not having current road tax.

you can also check with the council to see if the application for a disabled parking space has been done properly.

If your off road parking is properly recorded (the dropped kerb should prove it) then they cant put a space in front of your driveway.

You have 2 separate problems and if your car was immobile leaving it on the drive wouldnt have casued you any problems as you wont have needed the access.

There is too much ambiguity here from the OP.

He/she uses the terms "road", "in front of my drive" and "drive" almost interchangeably, making it impossible to determine what they are talking about (in my view).

The simplest way to establish if you have a defence is for you to post here the photographic evidence that you talk about (having removed any reference to any personal data, such as number plates, house numbers, etc.

If it's on the road or the pavement while it was SORNed, you are bang to rights, and you have to pay.

The disabled bay is a red herring,

UNLESS it was installed unlawfully by the council,

thereby blocking the access to your driveway.

Of course, this will only be relevant if you had permission to use your front garden (for example) as a driveway.