Leeds City Council 2016 Bus Lane PCN - now Equita Warrant of control

[AbrahamL]

For the avoidance of doubt, if a vehicle keeper fails to notify a change of address with DVLA on his V5C (Log Book), DVLA does not take enforcement action.

 

A law firm website says they do.

 

Failing to notify DVLA of change of keeper

 

The DVLA deals with the majority of issues relating to the licensing and registration of the millions of vehicles on the UK roads today. The DVLA is entitled to carry out, and frequently does, criminal prosecutions in the Magistrates Court for certain offences. The most common of these offences is failing to notify the DVLA of a change of keeper for a vehicle.

 

The law confirms that when a vehicle is sold or scrapped or written off after an accident or even seized by an insurance company the onus is on the registered keeper to inform the DVLA of the change of keeper. This duty is ongoing until the paperwork is returned to the DVLA and their records are updated. It is worth noting at this point that, in our experience, the DVLA are not the most efficient of organisations. This means that enquiries by phone are not always recorded and sometimes post from people, informing them of a change in keeper, goes missing. If the DVLA has no record of your reply to them then they will continue to chase the keeper for the correct form and also ask for a fine to be paid for not keeping them updated, when often the person has clearly returned the correct paperwork.

 

This is the point at which we can help. If the DVLA continue to pursue the matter and issue a summons for you then there is a real risk that a criminal conviction and large fine will follow at the Magistrates Court. We would be able to liaise with the DVLA at an early stage and look towards getting them to discontinue your case as the matter would not longer be in the public interest to pursue.

 

[Bailiff Advice]

I seem to have confused you. Once more, I said the following:

 

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For the avoidance of doubt, if a vehicle keeper fails to notify a change of address with DVLA on his V5C (Log Book), DVLA does not take enforcement action.

 

You responded to say that a 'law firm' state the following:

 

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The DVLA deals with the majority of issues relating to the licensing and registration of the millions of vehicles on the UK roads today. The DVLA is entitled to carry out, and frequently does, criminal prosecutions in the Magistrates Court for certain offences. The most common of these offences is failing to notify the DVLA of a change of keeper for a vehicle.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, my post was in relation to prosecutions by DVLA for failure to update a V5C (Log Book) with a change of address (when a person moves home).

 

From the DVLA:

 

By law, a driver licence holder is required to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of any changes to their personal details such as name and/or address. Failure to do so could result in prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000.

 

In the United Kingdom, a driving licence is the official document which authorises its holder to operate motor vehicles on highways and other public roads.

 

Bailiff Advice said:

 

For the avoidance of doubt, if a vehicle keeper fails to notify a change of address with DVLA on his V5C (Log Book), DVLA does not take enforcement action.

 

For the sake of accuracy, DVLA confirming my understanding:

 

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DVLA response to Freedom of Information request:

 

Please can you advise of the number of fines imposed in the year 1st January 2016 and 31st December 2016 for failure to update the DVLA of a change in address?

 

This could be via the driving licence change of address process or vehicle registration change of address process. Either or both would be helpful.

 

Of the above fines, could you provide a breakdown of the categories which caused you to impose the fine if held? For instance if you discovered this because of criminal activity such as a driving offence or if when someone updates their details and backdates their address as they forgot to at the time of moving if you follow those up?

 

Can you advise on the highest and lowest fine and an average fine imposed for failure to update an address?

 

If the statistics are not held, could you advise if there is a process in place to impose fines when someone provides a change of address and this is backdated?

 

 

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Drivers are required by law to let the DVLA know if they change their name or address. If a driver fails to notify the DVLA of changes they could face a fine of up to £1000. This is enforceable by the Police. DVLA does not hold information about the number of fines imposed for this offence.

 

DVLA does not take enforcement action against keepers of vehicles who fail to notify a change of address.

 

However, DVLA will automatically issue Late Licensing Penalty letters to:

 

Registered keepers where the vehicle record has not been updated with a current vehicle excise license

 

Or

 

The vehicle has not been declared off the road under a Statutory Off Road declaration (SORN).

 

Enforcement action is also taken against the keeper of an unlicensed vehicle as a result of receiving reports (e.g. from the Police, Local Authorities).

 

In addition, under Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE), the Agency issues Fixed Penalty Notices to those keeping their vehicle without valid insurance in place and where the vehicle is not SORN. If the keeper has not notified DVLA that they have changed address, they will not receive these notifications.

 

Where a vehicle keeper is not contactable from our records, DVLA can refer the matter to a debt collection agency who would trace the keeper to their correct address. DVLA may also refer the matter to a Magistrates’ Court, which may result in higher penalties for the vehicle keeper.

 

The information which follows concerns the procedures for making any complaint you might have about the reply. Please quote the reference number of this letter in

any future communications about it.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Robert Toft

Head of Data Sharing Policy & Freedom of Information Team