Hi
I am new to the forum and would appreciate some advice. I foolishly moved a car which is registered as SORN off my drive in order to get another vehicle off the drive.
I had the car parked out my house and had a knock at the door from a policeman asking who the car belonged to etc. He has given me a producer to take my MOT and insurance documents to my local Police station.
The car in question does not have a valid MOT or Insurance as it hasn't been used other than to move a few metres off my drive.I appreciate that I am whole heartedly responsible for this and am prepared to face the consequences.
I acknowledge I am in the wrong for having the vehicle on the road without tax and am fully prepared to pay a fine.
Can anyone clarify what penalties I may get for this and will I have to go to court and ultimately end up with a criminal record?Up until now I have a clean licence and no criminal record.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
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Just to add.The car is registered in my name.I was not actually observed by the policeman driving the car.A member of the public had reported the car being parked outside the house with an out of date tax disc.Therefore if the car was parked on the road at the time the policeman saw it can I be charged for driving without insurance as there is no way he can prove I drove the car.
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Agh it's you again. So that is how the police came to see your car. Yuo said it was only put on the road whilst you where changing cars around on the drive. Either you have a rocket neighbour and superman policeman or we did not quite the full story on www.Pepipoo.co.uk. However the problem is the same your car was caught on a public road but SORN. Bit unfair if you were just swopping cars but your neighbour is clearly fed up with all the cars you keep. Good Luck. Regards Peter
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Have a look at my posts from a couple of years back. I had a similiar case when putting a car back on the road after restoration. It had been sorned for two years while doing the work. Had it MOT'd, got insurance and went to the PO to get the tax, only to find that the insurance company had a letter wrong on the reg no on the cover note. PO refused to issue tax disk (Friday). I had a place booked for it at a car show on the saturday so I took a chance and drove it (stupid mistake).
As you may have guessed I was stopped on the way. Went to court and pleaded guilty and explained the situation. The court were very understanding and imposed the minimum fine that they legally could which was £40. The real kicker was that I had to pay road tax for the period the car was sorned (the mags asked if this could be waived but the clerk said it couldn't)- two years at the high rate and then costs on top. In all it cost around £400 (plus a day off work). I paid up on the day like all good boys do.
I hope this helps.
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Forgot to add - IIRC - its definately a day at court, you can't just pay a fine and be done with it. It's not a criminal offence so you wont get a record.
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Hi Peter
I did actually give the full story on the other website if you read the full post.The car was only put on the road as another car was moved off the drive.The tax on the vehicle actually expired at the end of the month so in effect has only been out of tax for 21 days at the time and it was SORN (albeit I did park on the highway)The member of the public must have walked past and informed Mr Plod who was on a cycle at the time (literally) heading along my street.
I wouldn't care but you never see a policeman along our road any other time.
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Offences:
Use mv on a road without current Excise Licence.
Fine: Up to 5 times the amount of duty or £1000 whichever is the greater plus duty lost for that and other months involved.
Fail to display a current Excise Licence
Fine: £200 (could be NFA'd in view of offence above)
Use mv on a road without Insurance
Fine: £5000 with 6 -8 points and discretionary disqualification.
Use mv on a road without Test certificate
Fine £1000 if for less than 8 passengers.
The above fines are maximum. Check your local paper as to what your local Court is doling out.
dvd
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Turbo, It really was not your day was it. Regards Peter
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Wait until you get a summons. See what offences you're expected to answer for. It may be worth seeking legal advice early or asking for the duty brief at Court. You have some mitigation and it's best to make the mopst of it.
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I'd be more worried about a vehicle parked on a highway without insurance than the tax :-(
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Dox
I appreciate this forum is open to public opinion and you are at liberty to place a reply to my post. I would prefer it if you could reply to the query initially posted however; other comments are not relevant to my post.
I know I am at fault and have clearly stated that I just wanted an indication as to what people think I may face.
Your comment does not have any validity to me as it doesn't answer any of my questions.
The message I posted another website basically turned into an arguement between other users and totally detracted from my post. I'm under the impression that some people who use these forums only post irrelevant or contradictory comments which are neither informative or helpful. Moan over. Many thanks to all who have left constructive and helpful comments.
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It's a FORUM, not a place for free legal advice.
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In fairness, he's asked a question, had several possible scenarios he may face as a consequence, taken some flack so let's bin it. Let us know what happens.
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Good luck with this and I hope it works out for you. In my view you have fallen foul of laws put in place for the chavs who blatantly drive without tax, insurance, mot etc.
Although technically you have broken the law, common sense says that you have done no harm to anyone (laws are there to protect us). Im sure that if it goes to court the mags will be understanding. In my case I was able to prove that my regular car was the one in use (mileage from mots, old insurance certs). It would help your case if you can show that at the time you had use of, or owned another car (road legal of course). This will back up your story that you were only moving cars off the drive.
Keep us updated.
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Thanks Moonshine your comments are appreciated.
Martint123 - I know its a forum and also stated that in my previous post if you read it carefully. Usually if I view something and have an opinion which is of no use to the query I keep it to myself and I don't post. If you look at the post you will also see I have never asked for free legal advice either,just thoughts on what I may get as a punishment. My comment was also directed to Dox if you look at the post not you.But because the forum is open to public posting you have the right to stick your two penneth in.I would suggest you read the posts more carefully.
I will refrain from posting any further posts/updates as this Forum is obviously used by (some) individuals who waste time and do not respond to the question asked.Moan and postings on this site over.
Once again thanks to all the people who posted valid, constructive and relevant replies.Its people like you who make forums a pleasure to use.
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Turbo 965,
Firstly, get over yourself.
Secondly, put your handbag away.
All forum conversations can wander off topic from time to time (BUT will hopefully remain on the theme of the forum - in this case motoring discussion). You'll generally get the majority of people answering your question, but there is nothing in the rule book that says the thread must evolve around your question only and nothing else must be discussed.
DD - BR Moderator.
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Turbo 965
Sorry if it's not what you want to hear but from my point of view, Dox is right - he is not being sarcastic but he has identified a far more serious issue than the tax.
When people are before the Magistrates for no insurance and MoT offences (tax is usually prosecuted separately) the no insurance is the one that attracts points and a larger fine if not a disqualification.
(Also if you wanted to pay to get an idea of what your likely punishment would be, it would be called legal advice).
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Turbo 965 Sorry if it's not what you want to hear but from my point of view, Dox is right - he is not being sarcastic but he has identified a far more serious issue than the tax. When people are before the Magistrates for no insurance and MoT offences (tax is usually prosecuted separately) the no insurance is the one that attracts points and a larger fine if not a disqualification. (Also if you wanted to pay to get an idea of what your likely punishment would be, it would be called legal advice).
Thanks David
Long story cut short.
Mate was in similar situation 12 years ago.
No tax, small fine and back pay.
No MOT, small fine and slap on wrist.
No insurance, IN10 (10 points on his licence) £300 fine.
He got hammered for premiums (refused by some companies) and had to declare the IN10 for 5 years instead of the usual 3 years for other offences.
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I have a suspicion they're going to throw the book at you, followed by the bookshelf and then the library. :(
Don't forget that had your car rolled off down a hill or something while parked on the road and crashed through a wall or another car or something, it wouldn't have been insured.
Hopefully they'll let you off with a slap on the wrist, though.
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i think the reason turbo965 is sensitive about the discussion drifting to insurance is because that is exactly what hapened to him on the other forum mentioned. he brushed it off at first saying that "he was covered by doc extension" until it was pointed out to him that doc usually excluded your own other cars.
turbo965 was also warned on the forum for not following their policy on starting new threads.
the bit that i would like to find out more is about the car that he had blocked in. i am intrigued to know whether that car was also sorned or whether he had blocked it in behind his sorned car for all that time. also, if he was only moving the sorned car out to let the other car out, why did he then leave the sorned car out on the road long enough for someone to complain about it. as peter says it seems that the odds were conspiring against turbo965 on that day for a passerby to spot his sorned car on the road while it was parked there for a few minutes, and just when a policeman happened to be passing. there may well be more to this story than is obvious at first glance.
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This place is getting more like a Court of law everyday !
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i think the reason turbo965 is sensitive about the discussion drifting to insurance is because that is exactly what hapened to him on the other forum mentioned. he brushed it off at first saying that "he was covered by doc extension" until it was pointed out to him that doc usually excluded your own other cars. turbo965 was also warned on the forum for not following their policy on starting new threads. the bit that i would like to find out more is about the car that he had blocked in. i am intrigued to know whether that car was also sorned or whether he had blocked it in behind his sorned car for all that time. also, if he was only moving the sorned car out to let the other car out, why did he then leave the sorned car out on the road long enough for someone to complain about it. as peter says it seems that the odds were conspiring against turbo965 on that day for a passerby to spot his sorned car on the road while it was parked there for a few minutes, and just when a policeman happened to be passing. there may well be more to this story than is obvious at first glance.
I couldnt care less where else hes been and what has been said. As I see it him the most serious breach is no insurance on a public highway, the other two will be small fines and back tax. I hope he manages to keep his cool with the police and the courts and not go off on a rant like he did here!
2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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