Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car

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Wed 30 Jun 2021 12:11
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Chetan Karthik

My car was SORN'd for a while and it was parked off road ( which I thought was a private space but not). The car was clamped while I was aboard. I called the enforcement agency on the same day to disclaim all rights to ownership to which they agreed to take away the car, dispose off the car and inform DVLA. This was on March 8th.

I came back in April and notified DVLA from my end and filled a Vehicle disclaimer form and emailed DVLA.

Today, 30th June, I have penalty notice of £539.00 as the vehicle was untaxed and was in public space. If not would be taken to court.

Looking for some honest advice to get out of this unnecessary stress.

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Wed 30 Jun 2021 12:40
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Middleman

Whilst you may "disclaim all rights to ownership" you cannot retrospectively disclaim "Registered Keepership." It seems you were the Registered Keeper whilst the car was on the road and untaxed so you are liable for any penalty. Watch your post as the next thing you may receive is notification of proceedings under S144A of the Road Traffic Act for keeping an uninsured vehicle on the road, though I imagine you would have heard by now if action was planned for that offence.

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Wed 30 Jun 2021 13:47
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Bromptonaut

Whilst you may "disclaim all rights to ownership" you cannot retrospectively disclaim "Registered Keepership." It seems you were the Registered Keeper whilst the car was on the road and untaxed so you are liable for any penalty. Watch your post as the next thing you may receive is notification of proceedings under S144A of the Road Traffic Act for keeping an uninsured vehicle on the road, though I imagine you would have heard by now if action was planned for that offence.

Middleman has it covered. At the date it was clamped you were the Registered Keeper of a vehicle for which SORN had been given. If you accept, as you seem to, it was not off the road then you're liable for the tax. You're also liable for the enforcement companies charges.

Whether DVLA will institute proceedings to recover the charge is another question. My bet is that they will but not necessarily the S144 process Middleman describes. They have a variety of other powers (and also in some cases push the envelope of what powers they have when issuing threats.

This question is relevant to the question asked by Pbaz in the Motoring section with essentially the same issue albeit his car had no MoT.

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/157041/how-to-get-...d

I have cross posted this set of messages to his thread.

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 10:11
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Chetan Karthik

Thank you for your replies. The vehicle was not off the road and hence was clamped by the DVLA contractor and the options I was given were either to pay 260 to release and get it MOTed and Taxed and get 160 back OR they impound the car, scrap it and inform DVLA about the keepership/ownership and I dont have to pay anything.

how can DVLA come back again after 2 months saying the car isnt taxed and here's the fine for it. How can DVLA send a contractor to clamp the car for the same reason and pursue another route again for the same 'offence'. sorry if i been naive here.

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 15:13
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Palcouk

The vehicle is not 'off road' therefore you are liable for all penalties re 'untaxed'

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 19:41
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - focussed

"OR they impound the car, scrap it and inform DVLA about the keepership/ownership and I dont have to pay anything"

Did you receive that advice in writing, eg by email, or was it via a phone call with no record of it?

My experience and advice to anybody dealing with official bodies is always get what they say confirmed in writing to protect yourself.

And keep copies of everything sent to them.

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 07:25
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Bromptonaut

how can DVLA come back again after 2 months saying the car isnt taxed and here's the fine for it. How can DVLA send a contractor to clamp the car for the same reason and pursue another route again for the same 'offence'. sorry if i been naive here.

Your car was on the road and liable to tax.

In order to enforce the tax the car was clamped and subsequently lifted. The contractor arranged scrapping but the tax, and the contractors costs, are still outstanding. The DVLA want that money.

The contractors advice was either incorrect or literal in the sense there was nothing else to pay to them. To my mind the idea that you can walk away from an offence at the cost of scrapping a valueless car is absurd.

You could try taking the paperwork to an organisation like Citizens Advice to ascertain that whatever law DVLA rely on is being used correctly but I strongly suspect the answer will be that it is.

Edit to add that you need to move quickly. If you delay and they take you to court (do they say whether Magistrates County Court?) then court fees and possibly costs are likely to be added.

Edited by Bromptonaut on 02/07/2021 at 09:40

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 13:34
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Middleman

It will go before a Magistrates' Court (and probably begin with a "Single Justice Procedure Notice"). Failure to pay for a Vehicle Excise Licence is a criminal offence, not a civil debt.

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 18:06
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Bromptonaut

It will go before a Magistrates' Court (and probably begin with a "Single Justice Procedure Notice"). Failure to pay for a Vehicle Excise Licence is a criminal offence, not a civil debt.

Noted but I thought I'd read somewhere that they used civil penalties as well.

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Wed 8 May 2024 23:49
Honda Accord - Penalty Notice on SORN'd / Disposed car - Alicia Lynott
Can I ask what happened with this? Same thing for me !
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