Paid road tax but now got court summons

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Fri 11 Dec 2020 17:32
Paid road tax but now got court summons - halsdad

Hi people. My son (yes - really - not me) bought a moped from a dealer. He was led to believe that it was taxed upon purchase. It costs £20 p/a. Not knowing it was indeed NOT taxed, he rode it about for a couple of months before he got a letter from the DVLA saying 'pay your road tax and avoid a fine or summons to court'. He obviously paid the road tax that day and has the bank proof to support. This was in October. Yesterday he received a further letter from the DVLA stating that he was riding the bike in October untaxed and he has to respond GUILTY or NOT GUILTY to the letter, pay the fine (£80?) or go to court. Now technically he is guilty of the offence that is clear, and £80 is not insurmountable - but having been given the opportunity to avoid paying the fine or going to court, it would appear that DVLA want a second bite at the cherry. He can't plead NOT GUILTY as he clearly was, but then if he pleads GUILTY he gets slapped with the fine with no opportunity to put the mitigation forward that he paid the road tax as soon as he was made aware of the fact that the bike was not taxed! Has anyone got any suggestions (sensible please!) as to who we might appeal to in the DVLA or has anyone experienced anything similar who can advise. Its more a matter of principle than anything else....we have 21 days left to deal with the latest demand. Thanks everyone.

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Fri 11 Dec 2020 18:51
Paid road tax but now got court summons - galileo

If he has the option of going to court, that is where he can explain all this and put forward his mitigation claim.

It may be worth having a consultation with a solicitor for advice, especially if he can find one who would give a free half hour?

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Sat 12 Dec 2020 10:48
Paid road tax but now got court summons - halsdad

If he has the option of going to court, that is where he can explain all this and put forward his mitigation claim.

It may be worth having a consultation with a solicitor for advice, especially if he can find one who would give a free half hour?

This is the issue - he has an opportunity to go to court but only if he pleads not guilty, which technically, he is not! The court may take an unfavourable view on this position....notwithstanding that he could then put forward his mitigation

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Fri 11 Dec 2020 19:08
Paid road tax but now got court summons - bathtub tom

He was led to believe that it was taxed upon purchase.

Someone's got the wrong message. Every vehicle has to be taxed and insured IMMEDIATELY after purchase (or SORNed).

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Sat 12 Dec 2020 10:18
Paid road tax but now got court summons - Bromptonaut

I think what he's been hit with is a 'Late Licensing Penalty'. These are issued automatically when a vehicle is picked up by DVLA's monthly sweep of its database to identify vehicles that are neither taxed nor SORN.

Is the vehicle now shown on the DVLA site as taxed?:

www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla

If there's been a cock up of some sort and it's not then follow up as to where his £20 has gone.

If it is an administrative penalty then I think DVLA are pushing it a bit using the language of guilty/not guilty but he is where he is. If unpaid they may prosecute or alternatively pursue the £80 as a civil debt. He could probably make an informal submission to DVLA stating the reason tax was late together with any other applicable mitigation (Covid, work/education or whatever). Whether that would work or not is another question. They will, inevitably, set the bar high and apply a degree of professional cynicism - they've seen all the try ons.

If he has option of paying £40 for early settlement then maybe go that way and treat it as a lesson learned.

Edited by Bromptonaut on 12/12/2020 at 10:20

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Sat 12 Dec 2020 10:50
Paid road tax but now got court summons - halsdad

I think what he's been hit with is a 'Late Licensing Penalty'. These are issued automatically when a vehicle is picked up by DVLA's monthly sweep of its database to identify vehicles that are neither taxed nor SORN.

Is the vehicle now shown on the DVLA site as taxed?:

www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla

If there's been a cock up of some sort and it's not then follow up as to where his £20 has gone.

If it is an administrative penalty then I think DVLA are pushing it a bit using the language of guilty/not guilty but he is where he is. If unpaid they may prosecute or alternatively pursue the £80 as a civil debt. He could probably make an informal submission to DVLA stating the reason tax was late together with any other applicable mitigation (Covid, work/education or whatever). Whether that would work or not is another question. They will, inevitably, set the bar high and apply a degree of professional cynicism - they've seen all the try ons.

If he has option of paying £40 for early settlement then maybe go that way and treat it as a lesson learned.

Thank you - good idea to check the website - and we will explore the informal submission option in the days remaining. Of course, finding the correct place to appeal to is the challenge now...

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Sat 12 Dec 2020 10:45
Paid road tax but now got court summons - halsdad

Agreed ... he should have checked!

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Sat 12 Dec 2020 10:46
Paid road tax but now got court summons - halsdad

I'm not sure if he gets the option to halve the fine to £40....and it certainly is a lesson learned

Edited by halsdad on 12/12/2020 at 10:47

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Sat 12 Dec 2020 19:34
Paid road tax but now got court summons - Gerry Sanderson

As Bathtub Tom states RFL was required for the time he bought the vehicle until the time when an RFL was bought after the letter - i.e is there 2 months unaccounted for.. Unless you can prove that when RFL was bought the back tax was taken into account.

If the current licence is 12 months from the date paid as a result of letter then Guilty. If 12 months from date of purchase then back tax has been paid. Try Not guilty

dvd

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Sun 13 Dec 2020 09:40
Paid road tax but now got court summons - Bromptonaut

I think, in the absence of a mess up where the moped is still being seen as untaxed, the issue here is late payment. There is presumably a public policy objective to discourage people from waiting for the reminder before they pay.

If I'm right that this is a Late Payment Penalty then, albeit I quibble over use of criminal law language around a civil penalty, then I think it's Guilty. The stuff I've found on the web about this all suggests that, as is common with Civil Penalty regimes (think council car parks), there's a window where a 50% discount applies. It would be interesting to know whether this option has been removed or whether the OP's son has allowed it to lapse.

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Sun 13 Dec 2020 09:46
Paid road tax but now got court summons - halsdad

I think, in the absence of a mess up where the moped is still being seen as untaxed, the issue here is late payment. There is presumably a public policy objective to discourage people from waiting for the reminder before they pay

If I'm right that this is a Late Payment Penalty then, albeit I quibble over use of criminal law language around a civil penalty, then I think it's Guilty. The stuff I've found on the web about this all suggests that, as is common with Civil Penalty regimes (think council car parks), there's a window where a 50% discount applies. It would be interesting to know whether this option has been removed or whether the OP's son has allowed it to lapse.

He paid it on the date he was given the first letter which was on the 14th October and the second letter received December was the next he heard of it. The 'offence' date referred to in the December correspondance was the 3rd October, so they overlap.

I see the point raised in the 12 month and back tax elemet. Looking at the DVLA site, the vehicle is due for re-tax on 01/10/21 so i assume that no back-tax was applied for the 2 months Aug & Sept otherwise the renewal would be August....so as I have already explained to him, he was guilty of the offence in absolute terms...

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