Driving while in SORN

[eleinad]

Short story:

 

A friend of mine used my car while in SORN. He was insured but the car was untaxed for about three months. Police stopped him and issued a red notification slip ("this vehicle has been seen on the road...etc...you risk up to 1000...etc). He also signed something, but he did not read it. After that I immediately taxed the car.

 

Questions:

What should I expect now?

Is there something I can do? The police suggested him to backdate the tax but at the DVLA told me that this was not possible.

 

Thanks in advance.

[rebel11]

Hi ele

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will respond shortly,

[SRPO]

There are two possibilities here.

1) You allowed him to drive the vehicle so can expect to share the liability.

2) You didnt allow him to drive the vehicle in which case he will be charged with a technical TWOC & you will escape an liability.

DVLA are red hot on SORN offences & always follow them up.

[eleinad]

There are two possibilities here.

1) You allowed him to drive the vehicle so can expect to share the liability.

2) You didnt allow him to drive the vehicle in which case he will be charged with a technical TWOC & you will escape an liability.

DVLA are red hot on SORN offences & always follow them up.

 

Answer is 1). He was implicitly allowed to use the car. But what kind of liability shall I expect?

[Tony P]

What if the Driver was given permission to drive the car if he taxed it first?

 

The failure in such circumstances would be of the driver and not the Registered Keeper. Would it not?

[zoomboy]

What if the Driver was given permission to drive the car if he taxed it first?

 

The failure in such circumstances would be of the driver and not the Registered Keeper. Would it not?

 

That would be extremely difficult to prove. I know it's not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but your are up against the probability - would it have been likely the keeper would have made such an arrangement? Is it realistic to expect someone else to tax the vehicle? How would they get the necessary documentation to do so? In all probability they couldn't. So I would expect the registered keepers responsibility would have been to ensure it was taxed prior to being used on the road and giving permission to be used.

[kwaks]

What if the Driver was given permission to drive the car if he taxed it first?

 

The failure in such circumstances would be of the driver and not the Registered Keeper. Would it not?

 

How can he tax it without insurance specific to the car? Can't insure it himself as no insurable interest.

 

OP can expect a fine from the DVLA in addition to being charged the backtax.

 

Unless the vehicle was being taken for an MOT (bit late to declare that now )

[Tony P]

How can he tax it without insurance specific to the car?

Quite straight-forwardly, if the proper documentation exists and is present when applying - be it online, Post Office or other ways.

I still keep my SORNed vehicles insured to protect them/me against fire, theft etc. Thus I get a valid Certificate of Insurance and the vehicles appear on the Databases used by Police etc.

If OP did the same, and is prepared to lend a car, why not lend the Insurance Certificate (albeit not valid for driving), V5C, etc as well, for the purpose of paying Road Tax.

If the OP had not maintained Insurance the User COULD insure it himself - see below.

A Registered Keeper (OP here) is not necessarily the User.

 

Can't insure it himself as no insurable interest.

Disagree.

He would be insuring his potential liability when driving it - a potentially very considerable interest to insure!

Also he would have an insurable interest while it was in his care and responsibility for insurable acts such as fire, theft etc.

 

Neither of the above are relevent to resolving the OP's question - but let's keep the record straight for others who might be otherwise misinformed reading this thread!

[babybear39]

Quite simply, and I do have a lot of experience dealing with DVLA on such matters after I came out of hospital from being in a coma and recovering...No tax = no drive on public roads unless you have a bloody good reason!