Failure to Notify New Keeper

Nathan

Nathan

Nathan

Soldato
Joined
4 Feb 2003
Posts
5,387
Location
West Midlands
Seems like the DVLA are feeling the pinch of government cuts!

In March 2010 I sold a Honda Civic, for which I was the registered keeper. A day or two later I sent off the V5 and thought nothing more of it.

Come February 2011 I get a letter from DVLA stating that somebody was asking for new ownership and that they had not received the V5. I filled in the back of the form stating I sold it to some kind chap from the Swansea area in 03/10 and that i had sent the V5 off a few days later thinking nothing more of it.

In March 2011 I get a further letter asking for a £35 get out of court early letter :confused: or tick the box "not guilty". I ticked the latter and quoted legislation I had followed by sending the V5 off. I sent this letter recorded delivery.

In April 2011 I get a further letter asking for a £35 get out of court early letter and that they had not heard from me. I sent them a further letter showing proof of postage of the first letter. (at this point im thinking they have already lost the battle by effectively losing my recorded letter! That would look great in Mags court, heh) I also included a copy of the previous letter and asked to attend court as I was not guilty of this offence.

Today I have received a further letter stating they have sent off the case to the "prosecution department" and to expect a date at magistrate’s court. They state that I should have received a letter within 4 weeks of sending the V5 off and it is up to me to chase this letter if not received.

Looking forward to court if it ever gets there! I ll let you know of the outcome.

There was no way in hell I was going to pay £35 for a DVLA/Royal Mail cockup!!
 
Just pay it. I tried fighting a mess up and it got me nowhere other than a court case and a stupid fine.
At this point I was able to fight it but over all i'd be happy just paying £35 and getting it dealt with.
 
Wait a minute - they send me a NIP by first class post and it is deemed 'served' when they put it into the post. I send them a recorded letter and it is my responsibility to check it has been received !

No way.....
 
Search on Pistonheads in the SP&L section, a number of people have had similar run ins with the DVLA.

From the reading it seems that once it is sent via Royal Mail they cannot hold you liable and try to issue these random fines.
 
Slightly different situation tho if hes sent it recorded as they can't claim he didn't send it (or that it was lost in the post and they didn't recieve it)... probably still _should_ have followed it up not really sure on that aspect.
 
Will be interested to hear how you get on... just had exactly the same thing.

I paid the fine (probably shouldn't have, but better than wasting a days holiday and £35 isn't worth fighting for) and demanded instruction on how to file an official complaint as it shouldn't be up to me to pay for their admin errors. They lost my license address change application too... tosspots

I never send these things recorded... I don't have time during the week to get to the PO and I'm not wasting an hour in line on a saturday at my local PO for these *****, looks like I'll have to in future :(
 
Last edited:
Gaygle said:
Unfortunately, i believe this is actually true :(
Click to expand...
Their own self-imposed regulation, fight them. Do not roll over for the DVLA, I don't often agree with all these "stick it to the man" threads about evading companies over technicalities and whatnot, but the DVLA are a horrendous organisation who need to learn that they cannot dish out fines willy nilly when they are largely caused by their own ineptitude.

Get your MP involved if they are ignoring you or responding with generic threattograms. I did and they overturned their decision within a week.
 
Another scam brought to you by the DVLA, surprised they don't offer payment by western union or similar.
My uncle got stung by this scam, he traded in his old car to a main dealer and filled in the "sold to a trader" part and sent it off. About 9 months later he gets a fine for not declaring the vehicle SORN. I told him to fight it but he didn't he just rolled over and paid it.
The fact that they can fine you for this stuff at all is a complete joke. It's obvious there are too many problems that can occur with lost paperwork etc, to hold us responsible and demand we pay a fine is just ridiculous, and a total scam.
I wonder if that ACS Law folks used to work at the DVLA and got their idea's there.
 
As Lopez said, the DVLA is a farce of an outfit consisting of utter chumps. By all means, stick it to the man on this occasion.

**** the system! Anarchy rules!
 
I had the unfortunate instance that when I sold my 306 GTi-6 the guy must have totalled it and took it to a scrap yard before they received the V5. I received a letter telling me I had to pay £55 for failure to notify of scrappage! Tried to contest it, in the end paid the £55 because I couldn't be bothered with the hassle :(
 
I walked into Sheffield's DVLA office to do mine directly last time I sold (scrapped) my car as I've had mares with them and the post in the past.
 
Do you still have the royalmail receipt for the V5 that was sent recorded delivery?

Thats surely all the proof you need to smack them with!
 
To be fair, paying the fine is just compounding the problem and shifting it onto someone else. If I came to your door and demanded £££ because of something i'd done wrong I expect i'd be told to **** off at the very least.

I mean come on, what's the difference between this and paying some private parking company "fine"?
 
magistrates court today. Thrown out. Nathan 1 DVLA 0.

If you re innocent and have sent the V5 do not let the buggers do you for £35.
 
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