Vehicle seized - please help!

[Andy_S]

Sunday afternoon I was pulled over by the police for a random roadside check. I thought nothing of this as I know everything is above board. Sure enough, tax, mot, insurance and breathalyser tests were fine. Then it comes over the radio that my licence was 'revoked' by the DVLA in 2002.

The police immediately seized the car for driving with invalid insurance, pointed me towards the train station and that was that.

 

This morning I phoned the DVLA, who informed me I picked up 3 points for speeding in June 2002 but never had the points added to my licence. They are unable to give me any more details on the speeding fine as they have expired on their system. 3 letters were sent to my address but were never responded to.

 

Now I swear I never received these 3 letters, and I certainly wouldn't ignore a 'licence revoked' letter, but I guess this is going to be impossible to prove.

 

DVLA inform me I need to apply for a new licence with a D1 form from the post office, and this could take up to 15 working days. Problem is, my vehicle will be disposed of in 14 days!

 

So my questions are:

 

a) Do I have a chance of getting my vehicle back? If the licence takes more than 14 days will the police be sympathetic and hold on to it for me?

 

b) What kind of fine and points am I looking at for driving without a licence and therefore insurance?

 

c) How can it be that for the last 6 years I have taxed and insured cars, and nobody has ever told me my licence was invalid?

 

As you can imagine, this is causing me immense stress, as I now can't get to work, and my easter holiday plans have been ruined. I could possibly lose my job over this, something which I can't afford to do.

 

Many thanks

[dave]

First thing I would do is to contact my MP: http://www.theyworkforyou.com

 

I have found that my MP is very helpful with the barrage of cock-ups I have had when I have had the inevitable contacts with the DVLA.

[Guest wino]

If you contact the compound where your car is and explain the situation then they should hold off on disposing of your car. They will charge you daily storage fees until you collect your car. There is normally a fee of £105 for them taking the car in the first place.

[Andy_S]

Wino, that's good to know that the compound should be able to delay the disposal of the vehicle.

 

I contacted DVLA again, and they gave me a different address to send my licence application to, so it should go through quicker. Items have been sent special delivery and should be with the DVLA this afternoon.

 

Fingers crossed!

[Guest wino]

My brother had his van impounded before Christmas and they kept it for a further 3 weeks for him. Like I said before he was charged storage fees

[Chesterexpress]

There ought to be no problem arranging for someone who is licensed and insured for any vehicle to collect the car from the pound.

[kano24]

You are looking at at least 6 points for driving with no license/insurance and a fine i the region of about £200.

[Andy_S]

There ought to be no problem arranging for someone who is licensed and insured for any vehicle to collect the car from the pound.

 

I have heard that some insurance companies have added a clause to say that you will not be insured for collecting an impounded car when the owner isn't insured. Also, it's difficult to find someone who's free between 9 and 4 on a weekday, everyone's at work!

[Andy_S]

You are looking at at least 6 points for driving with no license/insurance and a fine i the region of about £200.

 

That's not too bad. I currently have zero points on my licence, and the fine could be worse.

 

Still waiting for my licence to come back from DVLA before I collect the car.

[Andy_S]

Finally got my car back today. Took 16 days to get my license back.

 

Now time to gather evidence against the DVLA and find out exactly why my license was revoked.

 

Strangely I received a cheque in the post today from the DVLA for the £45 I sent them to replace my revoked license. I wonder if that's an admittal of their mistake!?

[Weird Al Yankovic]

That's not too bad. I currently have zero points on my licence, and the fine could be worse.

 

That's a rather laid back attitude to take for a miscarriage of justice!

You only say you never received letters of prosecution but you never stated that you had/had not been speeding in 2002.

Were you or were you not speeding in June 2002?

 

Still waiting for my licence to come back from DVLA before I collect the car.

 

...

[Andy_S]

As far as i'm aware I was never caught speeding in 2002. I've only ever been stopped for speeding once, and I took my license to the local police station and the points were added. That was in 2000.

 

The only reason I said "the fine could be worse" is that I was worried I would get a ban and a 4 figure fine. I've kind of accepted it, as I can't see how I can prove that i'm innocent. I am though going to pursue this issue and request from the DVLA all the data they hold on me and my driving history.

[grumpy101]

Hi Andy S (wouldn't be Smith would it?) I think you need to find out if the speeding fine was to a namesake of yours as I have read about a bloke who had his motorcycle confiscated for a similar "reason" (he was allegedly banned). In his case the banned bloke had the same name and date of birth! He was told by the police station desk clerk that to get his bike back he would have to write to the police HQ and pay the storage fees, because "that's how the system works". (No mention of apologies refunds, or compensation!) My own surname is fairly rare but seems to agitate the police so I can only assume that there is a really baddoppelganger of me out there but how can one find out?

Possibly you could lodge a claim for compensation from the Victim Support Scheme. They must have plenty of money by now as everyone who is fitted-up in court is charged £15. Alternatively when (if) the DVLAs error is proved sue them for all your losses in the Small Claims Court.

Yet another thought is that your car could have been cloned. Alternatively it only takes a typo at DVLA to send every thing haywire. (I once had a logbook for a Puch 50cc moped that said "2 wheel bulldozer" Probably these days the clots would try to fit me up for not having a bulldozer licence). This country gets more like Zimbabwe everyday.

[Andy_S]

Well, 3 days before I was due in court they've gone and dropped the case, presumably due to a complete lack of any evidence whatsoever.

 

I still don't know why my license was revoked, but at least I can relax in the knowledge that i'm not going to get a fine or any points on my license. And of course I can claim back my solicitors fees, car storage and transport expenses. Should come to a good £1200 I think.

[grumpy101]

Glad its finally coming right. As to the police trouble I have been getting, an unusually decent police officer admitted that there is "a rough bloke that looks like you and drives a similar car" - Ah, I had suspected this for several years. Whether this is also a case of ID theft and car cloning as well I don't know.

 

By the way there is now a new ID theft crime doing the rounds. Allegedly hackers hack in to wi-fi computers then download paedophilia. Whether this is done just to get the porn or is malicious is anyones guess. Anyhow there is the risk that anyone with wi-fi can be hacked and ultimately sent to jail for having obscene images on their computer! Needless to say the judges are most unlikely to have the perspicacity to comprehend this scenario.

Edited December 11, 2008 by grumpy101

[Guest wino]

A load off your mind eh Andy,