DVLA: Received summons but had forgotten about it, letter from court fine for £548 no road tax

[aquilerian]

I got stopped for no road tax last November and received the court summons on may 19th and had since forgotten about it. I received a letter from the Court today with a fine, I had missed the court date on the 11th and as a result my fine has exploded to £548 (£400 fine, £58.34 back duty and £90 costs) for no road tax from June til November last year.

 

I was told by a friend that if I complete a statutory declaration that I did not receive the summons, the court date would be rescheduled (as it is within 21 days of the court date) to another date in which i will plead guilty and pay the fine as it was initially intended.

 

I want to reset the court date and pay the fine immediately, and have since booked in to my local magistrates for the coming Friday.

 

I understand there are large consequences with lying while making a statutory declaration. How likely is it and how strongly are they going to question whether or not i received the summons, given that in any case I simply cannot prove something that I did not receive.

 

Appreciate all the feedback. Cheers

Edited June 17, 2014 by ims21

[BazzaS]

I got stopped for no road tax last November and received the court summons on may 19th and had since forgotten about it. I received a letter from the Court today with a fine, I had missed the court date on the 11th and as a result my fine has exploded to £548 (£400 fine, £58.34 back duty and £90 costs) for no road tax from June til November last year.

 

I was told by a friend that if I complete a statutory declaration that I did not receive the summons, the court date would be rescheduled (as it is within 21 days of the court date) to another date in which i will plead guilty and pay the fine as it was initially intended.

 

I want to reset the court date and pay the fine immediately, and have since booked in to my local magistrates for the coming Friday.

 

I understand there are large consequences with lying while making a statutory declaration. How likely is it and how strongly are they going to question whether or not i received the summons, given that in any case I simply cannot prove something that I did not receive.

 

Appreciate all the feedback. Cheers

 

I'm not sure that CAG'ers would (or should ) give advice assisting or encouraging someone to commit perjury.

[citizenB]

I agree with Bazza, this is for you and your conscience - if you do lie and are found out, the penalty will be far greater that it already is.

I would hope that no one on CAG would advise you to take the chance.

 

[colin11]

If they don't believe you never received the original summons, they have the option of fining you a lot more

 

the back tax, and the costs wont be any less second time round, if it was me, i wouldn't take the risk, i would bite the bullet and pay up

 

sat in a prison cell for perjury, im guessing £548 will seem quite cheap

[Aretnap]

The likelihood of getting caught depends on a number of factors. One of them is whether you do something really silly like posting in a public forum about your plans to commit perjury. Here's a cautionary tale for you.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2321458/Biker-caught-doing-122mph-went-internet-forum-ask-advice-avoid-speeding-points.html