Running without Road Fund Licence

[buzby]

I'm waiting for someone to challenge the 'failure to display' a RFL. With DVLAs new computer system in place, police and others can check on thew spot whether a vehicle is road legal or not. Require a modified guiness lable to be showing somewhere on the car needs to be looked at - especially if it fell onto the floor (but was otherwise current).

[pugsley]

can you drive a sorn vehicle to a garage to have repairs done, I know I can drive it to an MOT but my car needs a few things fixed which I would rather do first.

[buzby]

NO - the only exception is to a testing station. The solution is to have the garage provide temporary plates to cover the vehicle in transit.

[pugsley]

ahhh that is what they do is it, Most of the garages here won't take your car in for the work more than a day or so as they haven't got the room as property is pricey, garages are a bit thin on the ground here as they tend to sell up and build penthouse flats, and I don't want to keep getting it in and out of the garage either as it's a very very very tight fit! well I will book it in for a timing belt and mot at the same time and then see what else is wrong, was thinking about buying another car as a stop gap but I can't make my mind up so I think I will get this one fixed.

[patdavies]

NO - the only exception is to a testing station. The solution is to have the garage provide temporary plates to cover the vehicle in transit.

 

Depends on whether the garage is on the way to the testing station. You do not have to use the nearest one. A friend of mine was advised that he could pick up a car from Yorkshire and make an appointment at his local garage in Cambridge. If it failed he could still drive it home.

 

The exemption is to and from a pre-booked Mot test appointment

[patdavies]

I'm waiting for someone to challenge the 'failure to display' a RFL. With DVLAs new computer system in place, police and others can check on thew spot whether a vehicle is road legal or not. Require a modified guiness lable to be showing somewhere on the car needs to be looked at - especially if it fell onto the floor (but was otherwise current).

 

There are two separaet offences. One is not having a valid VED for the vehicle and this is enforced by the DVLA. Plod only report to them. This is what cen be checked 'on the spot'.

 

The second offence is failure to display and this is a Police matter and it is totally irrelevant whether the vehicle is taxed or not. The fact that a vehicle is taxed is not a defence to a charge of failure to display.

[buzby]

Depends on whether the garage is on the way to the testing station. .The exemption is to and from a pre-booked Mot test appointment

 

Clearly the exemption would have to be both ways, otherwise there would be a lot of cars in garage forecourts, however your suggestion of going to the garage 'on the way' to an MoT test has been tried, and failed! A driver had pre-booked the MoT with no intention of turning up in order to get to the garage. Unfortunately, he was involven in a small accident, and his insurers agreed to pay the 3rd party claims but refused his on the basis the vehicle was not taxed or had an MoT. I was told normally these vehicles are also usually uninsured too....!

[pugsley]

thanks for letting me know I can go out of the area to get this fixed, will look into that pronto, I could book it in for a garage somewhere near a train station in the country, also I will benefit from hourly rates being a bit lower, I think it's £60/70 per hour labour here

[Movingon]

Instead of trying to get around the Law, why don't you borrow/hire a trailer?

[buzby]

Have to agree. A garage can hire trade plates to assist you in getting the car to the garage legally - sometimes they even waive the fee if they're doing the work. All it takes is one SPECS or GATSO camera to clock you (or a police check) and you're in big trouble.

[pugsley]

I'm not planning to drive it on the road unless it is booked into an mot anyway

[tevion]

Even if you have road tax it is still an offence to "fail to display a current/valid excise licence" & thats what you would be fined for. As has been stated there is no such thing as 14 days grace

 

All Fixed Penalty notices can be disputed & you can elect to go to court. If you voluntary pay up then the "Bill of Rights" is not brought into play. Since decriminalisation of parking, councils should not use the terms "Penalty Notices" or "Fines" as these can only be administered after due process by a properly constituted court of law as per the "Bill of Rights". A fact they are just waking upto

 

Iv'e mentioned this before & it's important to note that if you live in publicly funded housing (Council or HA) & are parked even in your driveway you are still required to have valid road tax. You can't even SORN your vehicle. The council in such circumstances can & do have untaxed vehicles removed & crushed & you will be hit with a demand to pay at least £80 & it could be upto £1,000 plus all unpaid road tax

 

 

 

and i no what i would say. kiss my arse.they wouldnt get their money. and baliffs or time inside wouldnt worry me.

[Movingon]

and i no what i would say. kiss my arse.they wouldnt get their money. and baliffs or time inside wouldnt worry me.

 

And we know what we all think of tax dodgers, don't we boys and girls! :lol:

[pugsley]

well it passed it's mot easily which was a bit of a surprise and is now all legal.

 

I've even bought an old camper van to do up too, not very sensible but it is taxed , mot'd and insured but appears to be held together with rust.

[xrchris]

If you live in publicly funded housing your vehicle must still be taxed.

 

 

I fail to understand why this is so. :?

 

Surely the driveway of such a house does not constitute a part of the public highway?

[Movingon]

I fail to understand why this is so. :?

 

Surely the driveway of such a house does not constitute a part of the public highway?

 

Errr.... as it's quite obviously publicly owned I would think so, yes... it's not "Public Highway" anyway; it's if the car is anywhere ON PUBLIC LAND.

[patdavies]

Strange then that the DVLA form to register SORN doesn't explain this - as they would get more money that way.

[dave]

That's because the DVLA are a joke.

[xrchris]

Errr.... as it's quite obviously publicly owned I would think so, yes... it's not "Public Highway" anyway; it's if the car is anywhere ON PUBLIC LAND.

 

So if i keep a vehicle stored in the garage of a council house i am obliged to pay VED for this as it is on public land?

 

Edit - Even the Direct.gov and DVLA sites refer to requiring VED for use on a 'Public Road' not public land. I just cannot understand the reasoning behind this. Can anyone explain?

[blazing-badger]

The Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 refers specifically to "a public road" and not to "public land".

[Movingon]

Then I stand corrected; however I still believe that a publicly owned drive will count. Why don't you leave a SORN'd car on a council drive and report yourself to the police and see what happens?

[JonCris]

The council will send licenced recovery firms to remove it (even from driveways/gardens etc) as they have done in a number of boroughs around London.

[xrchris]

The council will send licenced recovery firms to remove it (even from driveways/gardens etc) as they have done in a number of boroughs around London.

 

OK but how are they able to when SORN and the relevant act(noted above by BB) stated VED is only required for the Public Road. Just because a piece of land is owned publicly doesn't automatically mean it suddenly becomes a public road.

 

How are they able to do this? It just doesn't make sense.

[Movingon]

Do you SERIOUSLY want to test this in court? I say go ahead and best of luck to you. However I believe that the particular piece of information will already have been covered in Common Law - i.e. there will be a precedent setting case out there which clearly defines "public road" and includes publicly owned drives etc. I suspect that a piece of land becomes a "public road" when a vehicle drives onto it and it is publicly owned. It must be a "road" because it has "vehicles" driving on it. That's what I believe the legal interpretation will be.

[xrchris]

Well using your interpretation i could drive my car onto any piece of publicly owned land and it automatically becomes a road.

 

I am not looking for an argument i was looking for a straight answer to Joncris's earlier post where he stated that VED was a requirement to park a car on a driveway of a council house even though SORN does not state that this is so. He stated it as if it was a proven fact, i just wanted to know how this had been proven and evidence of this.