I also received my acknowledgement letter yesterday. And guess what - same goes - 30th June, 2 weeks before the issue of the penalty. What are they well and truly playing at?

Hi Daklone! Great stuff! I have also sent my letter off. I record all calls and the operator for the tax refund department clearly states on the phone that my letter was received and that the sorn was applied 15 days days before the alleged offence. It's a shame that the system with the SORN department is a shambles. After losing the acknowledgement they were meant to send me, and reposting it on the 27th, I still have not received it. I'm not convinced. I'll await reply and take the evidence to court if they send me an acknowledgement letter with a different date after the alleged day of offence. No more games.

Yes, I've heard of the interpretations act section 7, and while I think It applies to post only I heard on another forum that a judge ruled out the particular legislation so I am unsure if using it is a good choice. Also there is evidence the DVLA do not take notice of the act via others responses. Still I have not seen it challenged by court appeals. As far FOI goes, I would only use I to request received letter dates by a v888 form. You had the stamp though James

Hi again daKlone, Spoke to DVLA today as still no letter of acknowledgement. Their answer: "its been lost in the post", baloney, because when I asked when it had been sent, ironically it has been posted; today.... I read the letter you written. Absolutely spot on, not too harsh, not too soft but the right approach to being messed around. Send it off best of luck! I'm hoping that others will read this thread for future purpose so they too do not get scorned by the DVLA's SORN game...

Hi DaKlone, Good to hear you've found some useful evidence! What letter did you receive a copy of your submitted v14 from? I can't understand why they would issue you a copy. What I would say though is that it automatically proves that you DID in fact just like myself send the SORN in before the penalty. The whole process is a complete mess. If you want to find specific information from the DVLa though, you need to fill out a V888 form with a fee of £2.50. It maybe useful, certainly for myself to obtain when they received my letter. I hope they send me a V14 copy that I submitted too with the acknowledgement!

Hi DaKlone, I've just joined this forum as I saw your post and I want to let you know that I am having the exact same issue as yourself, but what gets weirder is that the dates of letters which I have been sent match yours too. In June I also received a letter by askMID informing me to take action and sorn my out of use vehicle to avoid a penalty. I immediately took action and then on the 15th July I received a letter from DVLA which was a penalty notice fine for £100 or £50 if payed in advance. I rang the DVLA several times to the SORN and tax departments and the minute I mentioned 'penalty notice' they didn't want to know. The response was "just fill out the dispute on the back of the letter. I managed to receive my tax refund and the tax deptartment confirmed that a SORN was in place yet they would not tell me when for. According to the DVLA they will only refund tax for a whole month if they receive SORN the month prior to the month they refund. I.e. (Receive letter in June and refund for July onwards) That means that they received my SORN in June and it was in place on the 15th of July. DVLA SORN your vehicle the same day they refund you the money so in my case this should be the 1st of July as that's what I have been told by the tax refund department. The problem starts when you speak to them, as they will not confirm over he phone the actual day they had SORN your vehicle. Like DaKlone, I cannot dispute the fine because they have not sent me an acknowledgement and I have been waiting for some time now. The reason I got a fine from them was because they delayed the processing of my application. This is unfair and by failing to send me an acknowledgement they are hindering my chance of a fair appeal within the time limit. By checking online all the website tells you is that your vehicle is SORN, it does not tell you the date. I am sure the DVLA are playing games with people, but I am not paying as that would admit guilt on my part and i am not guilty of this offence when I took immediate action to avoid a penalty. I am sending the DVLA a stern letter today. I will let you know any further info once I receive it. James