£1813 DVLA Fine for No Tax

[nastyslug]

Hi anyone that can advise!

 

In June 2016 I got clamped for having no road tax.

I realised I hadn't renewed it since moving address,

 

 

I paid the Road Tax & Clamping Fine immediately.

I did update my License with the DVLA when I moved but forgot to update the vehicle V5C and thus did not receive a reminder letter from DVLA.

 

 

The period I was unknowingly driving around without tax for was almost a year. (around June 2015 to 10 June 2016)

 

I got captured on camera 5 times on these dates:

 

£262 for offence on 03/01/16

£329 for offence on 05/03/16

£296 for offence on 03/04/16

£396 for offence on 02/05/16

£430 for offence on 10/06/16 (Day I got clamped)

£100 for Clamping

--------

£1813 Total

 

DVLA filed two of the fines with the court and (in my absence) I was sentenced by the court on both occasions.

I never knew any of this was happening as all the dvla/court/bailiff documents were allegedly going to my old address.

The first I knew of these fines was when the court sent bailiffs to my flat to take possession of my car.

 

 

I explained to them that I got clamped but knew nothing of the court cases.

I paid the bailiff to avoid having my car removed.

 

 

I then filed "Statutory Declarations" and the court voided the first case & relisted the 2nd case.

 

After that I phoned the DVLA in an attempt to pay them a settlement.

(This is when the operator told me I have 5 fines to pay, and would I be paying £1713!!?!)

I told him I would pay the original fine £262 but I can't afford to pay the rest.

 

I also sent the DVLA an appeal letter but they have not responded to my questions and given me a final chance to pay the out of court settlement fine.

 

Before you say "ignorance is not an excuse" I just want to say that I simply forgot to update my V5C when I moved.

As I updated my license I guess I just thought to cross DVLA off the list of notifications and moved on to let me bank, work etc know. So when I didn't receive a reminder to pay tax it all spiralled out of control. It's not deliberate tax avoidance.

 

My question is

if I go to court I'm sure the DVLA will raise 4 remaining cases

but will the court see this as one offence as it was impossible for me to pay 5 fines I didn't know about,

or will they side with DVLA?

 

 

have I been given the opportunity to correct my mistake or do I have to plead guilty to 5 separate fines separately?

 

Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 Section 29 states:

 

In the case of a conviction for a continuing offence, the offence is to be taken for the purposes of subsections (6) and (7) to have been committed on the date or latest date to which the conviction relates.

 

I'm not sure what this means if DVLA raise 4 different court cases which I predict they will??

 

Thanks for reading,

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

Other notes:

 

*The bailiffs did not issue me a warning letter at my current address. They approached me at my new address on the "enforcement stage" which is wrong

*The tenants at my old address binned most of my mail but afterwards I did recover some documents sent by the court & one from the bailiff but absolutely nothing from the DVLA.

[Conniff]

We all forget things now and then. DVLA don't seem to forget things, they tend more to just ignore you.