Running without Road Fund Licence

[Glenn UK]

Not having (or displaying) valid VED has no affect whatsoever on the insurance.

 

If you drive and untaxed and unMoT'd car to an MoT appointment (which you may legally do) are you automtically uninsured - I think not.

 

Thats incorrect i believe, if the vehicle was unroadworthy you would be uninsured i think youll find.

 

Otherwise you could legally drive the vehicle with bald tyres to and from the mot station on purpose, that isnt what the intent of the law is nor how its applied i belive.

[Movingon]

Add to that that the MOT Certificate merely certifies that WHEN IT WAS CHECKED, the vehicle was roadworthy. It is NOT a certificate of Roadworthiness valid for a year; it simply states that your car was roadworthy at the point of the annually required check. So - the vehicle could leave the testing station and run over a nail and become unroadworthy; in which case if you continued to drive the vehicle knowing it was unroadworthy you would lose the benefit of your insurance. (i.e. they would be unlikely to pay out in an accident).

[blazing-badger]

There is a difference between "public" and "publicly-owned". Buckingham Palace is "publicly-owned" but it is not "public". Something can be owned by a public authority but not actually open to the public.

 

"Public Road" is defined in the Highways Act 1980, ie a public highway over which motor vehicles have the right of access. It most certainly does not cover other land which just happens to be owned by a public body.

 

Highways authorities keep definitive registers of highway land and it most certainly does not cover driveways even if they are owned by the same council. As the local authority has a duty to maintain the public road at public expense they are usually keen to keep land off of these registers - otherwise they would have to maintain the drive of every council house up to the same standards as the road.

 

Also I believe StoneLaughter is correct about the insurance - you must not drive your vehicle whilst it is unsafe, but an MOT certificate is not a guarantee of safety for the whole year.

[JonCris]

xchris I gave you a straight answer & if you don't believe me contact your local authority & ask them. The act does cover land. In recent years a land owner who on the day of a public event drove his landrover on his land whilst over the limit was prosecuted........& convicted for DD.

 

Also Surrey Sutton Council had a blitz about 2-3 years ago when they removed all untaxed vehicles from their estates & even the driveways of council homes

[patdavies]

Also Surrey Sutton Council had a blitz about 2-3 years ago when they removed all untaxed vehicles from their estates & even the driveways of council homes

 

Aaha! Now I see where the confusion is arising.

 

No council has any authority to remove vehicles simply becasue they are untaxed. Only the Police/DVLA can do this.

 

However, under environmental legislation, councils have a duty top remove 'abandoned' cars. Not having VED is taken as an indication of abandonment. Unlike the Police, the council cannot simply come in and remove cars - they have to give notice in writing on the vehicle that they will consider the vehicle abandoned and remove it for destruction after 14 days. This does apply to all council property

[xrchris]

In recent years a land owner who on the day of a public event drove his landrover on his land whilst over the limit was prosecuted........& convicted for DD.

That is a completely different matter to the one i am questioning you about as even private land has a requirement for insurance etc if the public have been invited onto it - even if only temporarily.

 

Thank you Pat as your answer makes much more sense to me and would seem more reasonable.

[JonCris]

I wasn't talking about the land (although the land owner will have PL insurance) I was talking about the vehicle being driven on the private land where the public had been invited. It is a requirement that any such vehicle must be legal & driven lawfully.

[patdavies]

I wasn't talking about the land (although the land owner will have PL insurance) I was talking about the vehicle being driven on the private land where the public had been invited. It is a requirement that any such vehicle must be legal & driven lawfully.

 

Was the conviction for DD or drunk in charge? The latter would stand up anywhere - even having the keys in your pocket in the pub is sufficent!

 

There is no requirement for any vehicle to be 'road-legal' if it is driven solely on private land - even if the public have access.

 

Think 4x4 trials, hill climbs, displays, hell even motor museums.

 

Think about me a young kid driving a landrover on my cousin's farm. Public right of way through the farm. And there was absolutely no way that the LR concerned would ever pass an Mot and it wasn't taxed (well before the existence of SORN)

[JonCris]

The chap was caught driving by the officers policing the event...ironic or what

[xrchris]

The chap was caught driving by the officers policing the event...ironic or what

 

HA HA bet that taught him a lesson. A well deserved one too if you ask me.

[dustbug68]

Hi,

 

Last year in May i SORN my old SAAB 900 car and parked it in the rear drive of my house, to be honest i have been really busy and it just sat there, however we had severe gales in late Jan and the fence between my house and next door blew down and debris got strewn all over the garden and a panel managed to smash the windscreen of the parked SAAB

 

We had to move the SAAB into a communal parking area at the rear of the house in order to make the garden safe and erect a new fence,,,,,,you guessed it,,,,the DVLA came and clamped the car. We paid £200 to free the car (it was only there for 4 days) and had it placed back into the garden. I then get a letter from the DVLA asking if I had re taxed the car, i replied "no" and before you know it Im in court for no road tax!!

 

I live between two police inspectors, as i pointed out to the DVLA do you think they would want an untaxed car being parked outside their house for over a year, but still they continued to procecute.

 

Today i have pleaded guilty to keeping the car on the highway with a full letter, we will see what happens in the future.

 

Since this date the SAAB has been sold and is now fully taxed and back on the road.

[patdavies]

We had to move the SAAB into a communal parking area at the rear of the house in order to make the garden safe and erect a new fence,,,,,,you guessed it,,,,the DVLA came and clamped the car. We paid £200 to free the car (it was only there for 4 days) and had it placed back into the garden. I then get a letter from the DVLA asking if I had re taxed the car, i replied "no" and before you know it Im in court for no road tax!!

 

 

 

Is the communal parking a road maintained at public expense? If it is not, then the vehicle does not need to be taxed (unless, of course, you had to drive over the public highway to get it there).

 

The definition of a public road in the legislation relating to VED is significantly different from the RTA