DVLA : What is my position?

[MBNAvictim]

Hi all,

 

Quick precis.

 

After the theft of my previous motorcycle I was lucky to find a suitable replacement secondhand from a guy in Liverpool. The description of the bike was spot on and I am happy with my purchase. Only problem was, the bike had been off the road for two years and the owner wasn't sure if the SORN was till current. After the sale was completed he sent off the V5 and subsequently I received the new V5 in my name. The V5 was issued on 17-2-11.

 

I received the V5 on Mon 21st and arranged insurance on Wed 23rd. Meanwhile the bike was booked in for MOT on Fri 25th and passed. Now that I was the registered owner and both MOT and insurance were on the relative databases I logged on to the DVLA website in order to tax the bike. Big problem: I found out that the SORN had run out at the beginning of February - something I could not have found out until I had the V5 in my posession and was ready to tax. Not only that when I attempted to tax the bike on Sat 27th the DVLA system would only let me tax from the bginning of Feb, meaning that I would lose a month of a 12-month tax disc costing £50. I decided to tax on Mar 1st but was unexpectedly away for two days. Accordingly I taxed the bike for 12 months today, 2nd March at a cost of £50. During the process I was presented with this warning:

 

"There has been a gap in the licensing of this vehicle.

 

Previous tax disc or SORN expired on: 01 02 2011

 

It is an offence to be the registered keeper of a vehicle that is licensed and does not have a SORN declared.

 

You can apply for a tax disc from today's date, with a licence start date of the 1st of this month. However please note the above offence will still apply.

 

DVLA's Continuous Registration Enforcement Centre may be in contact with the registered keeper regarding this gap in licensing."

 

Surely they cannot impose a penalty on the grounds that I was unaware of the SORN status until I actually attempted to apply for a licence, and from that time I took care to rapidly complete the process leading to the issue of a valid licence? The bike was collected by trailer and the only time it was taken on the road unlicensed was when collected from the MOT station which is of course fully legal.

 

I'm living on a small fixed income and can't afford to hand DVLA £80, about 80% of my weekly income.

Edited March 2, 2011 by MBNAvictim

[Raykay]

The system is that SORN is automatically cancelled on the change of registered keeper, the old keeper should have given you the green 'New Keeper' part of the V5C when you bought the bike, and you use that to tax or SORN the bike.

[MBNAvictim]

the old keeper should have given you the green 'New Keeper' part of the V5C when you bought the bike,

 

I am fully aware of that and yes, he did.

 

and you use that to tax or SORN the bike.

Incorrect. Whether or not that is so at a post office I do not know because I never tax my machine that way. According to the DVLA website you can do neither online until you have the new V5 in your possession as both document number and registration mark are required. As far as taxing the bike was concerned the post office option was anyway unavailable as I didn't have (and still don't yet have) a paper certificate of insurance. Of course when taxing online the DVLA system checked the MID which confirmed that my insurance was in force.

 

Perhaps I should remind you that the SORN system was intended to track down down and prevent the use of untaxed (and often uninsured) vehicles. Instead like so many sensible laws, the DVLA have perverted the SORN regulation into an excuse to raise extra profits. Remember - although notionally a Government department DVLA is in reality a profit-driven quasi-corporate entity. In the unlikely event some common sense still reigns at DVLA, it is obvious that the DVLA know roughly when I would receive my V5, their own records will show the date of issue my MOT certificate, and of course the MID will confirm the date my insurance commenced. They will also know that so near to the end of a month any reasonable person will wait until the beginning of the next month to buy their tax as no-one is going to waste money by losing nearly a month's tax. It should be perfectly obvious that I never had any intention to use the bike without tax or otherwise illegally, otherwise why would have I gone to the trouble and expense of insurance and MOT?

 

Back in the sensible era of my youth there was always the concept of "adhering to the spirit rather than the letter of the law" and the DVLA extended periods of grace (used to be 14 days) to cover such eventualities of transferring a vehicle to a new owner who meanwhile has to arrange insurance etc.

Edited March 3, 2011 by MBNAvictim

[Raykay]

I'ts on the back of the green V5C/2 to use it to licence the vehicle at the Post Office or DVLA office. As you were not (at that time) the registered keeper, you could have declared SORN on form V890. An on-line vehicle enquiry at DVLA would show when the current SORN was due to expire.

 

I agree with you about the behaviour of the DVLA............