Criminal record for failure to tax car?

[shep1001]

A friend of mine is on his way to a head to head with the DVLA in court over a vehicle tax issue.

He is a small trader who works from home buying damaged/poorly looked after cars, repairing them and selling them on. earlier this year, the DVLA came onto private land and tried to remove a car for failure to tax or SORN the vehicle. His understanding was this was not necessary as (a) it was on private land (b) he is a trader and as long as the car remains registered 'in trade' all is well.

Its been a comedy of errors so far, when he met with the DVLA prosecutor they were pursuing him on the grounds the vehicle was parked on public land (therefore its needs to be taxed or SORN) which he has now proven not to be the case, as they had the wrong location which has the same post code. DVLA has now changed their position and still intend on pursuing him as they now claim the car was not on 'business premises' therefore it can't be registered as 'in trade'. As he works from home, the land is behind his house, this is his place of business and his accounts reflect this.

DVLA bod also claimed if they go to court and he looses then he will get a criminal record.

The DVLA website is a little vague about vehicles 'in trade' as it does not specify anything about what qualifies as business premises so he may be on a hiding to nothing if trading from a residential address is not valid, albeit on private land. However, I can't believe you get a criminal record for being fined for failure to tax a vehicle which is essentailly what the prosecution will be for.

Thoughts please?

[shep1001]

Red Devil & 98elise have it nailed here. The stumbling block will be there is unlikely to be a registered change in interest for the land and all the costs and paper work trail that sits behind it. Personally I suggested he pays up. At the moment they only want £130, £90 towards costs + 6 months back tax. They already have £260 from when the vehicle was seized. If it goes to court potentially it could cost unto £1150 + costs & the tax.

[shep1001]

TVR1 said:

Even though he has cars in trade, how long has he had them? You cant just hold onto a car forever in trade without insurance. 3 months rule IIRC, after that, it must be added to his trade policy.

Only keeps then a week or two, just long enough to repair/refurbish minimal damage then sells them on. Don't think I have ever seen him with more than two cars at a time.

[shep1001]

photosnob said:

Please provide case law or statute that indicates that you need to have the premises registered as business premises. This is what I'd ask the DVLA to do.

As you are offering legal advice I expect you to do the same.

Personally I'd either run with it, or get some legal advice. The DVLA are famous for running silly prosecutions and then dropping out just before trial.

The rules for SORN, vehicle taxation & exemptions cover it. What they don't define in detail is what is considered to be business premises. A domestic residence potentially not registered for business use might therefore be an issue in more ways than 1.

[shep1001]

photosnob said:

You are assuming that because someone could be guilty of a, then they are guiltY of b. In the same way folk on here post that you have no insurance if your tyres are worn out.

I'm not convinced that the dvla can state that a vehicle was not in the trade because there has been no change of usage. The dvla are pretty famous for bottling dodgy prosecutions at the last minute. So giving someone advice to hand over their hard earned is a bit dodgy in my opinion.

Lets see what the solicitor says tomorrow then. One way or another he should find out on Nov 5th if he elects to go to court!

[shep1001]

Magog said:

Is there an end to this story yet?

Yep got to court start December & the DVLA folded. A different representative turned up this time and basically said had it been his case from the beginning he would have binned it months ago as it was a non starter

[shep1001]

ging84 said:

What is to stop you recovering costs for this? There must have been a trespass involved at some point that someone could sue over

Had they gone in front of the beak a second time, yes costs attributable to the prosecution could have been claimed as I interpreted it. They pulled the plug about 10 minutes before the case was to be heard. Have been able to get the £300 odd quid back for the recovery of the car from the pound after they took it

Edited by shep1001 on Saturday 27th December 23:20

[shep1001]

Magog said:

Sounds like a good result, the DVLA should probably leave it to the local authority to enforce planning law.

The problem was the DVLA changed their mind mid way through prosecution. Initially they were prosecuting for an untaxed car on public land, it's was successfully proven the land was private belonging to the property owned by my friend, as the location they claimed the car was removed from was somewhere completely different.

They then changed their mind deciding instead they could prosecute as the private land the car was on was not registered for business use therefore registering 'in trade' was not applicable. The council seem not to be interested either as they were not there to support the DVLA nor provide a written statement as claimed

Edited by shep1001 on Saturday 27th December 23:18