Caught with an Untaxed Vehicle ..
Discussion
Hi all,
Wondering if anyone can help with this;
We purchased a new car in Nov. 2015, completely forgot to tax it when it came around to 1 year old (I know, silly silly boy). We had moved houses and were in the process of changing V5's, and didn't receive the tax reminder to the house we were living in.
We have all our cars paid via direct debit for Road tax, and don't try to beat the system, it was an honest mistake.
Received a fine for £85. Caught just shy of 2 months after tax due date - shall I just pay the darn fine or is there any way we can appeal for a reduction?
Wondering if anyone can help with this;
We purchased a new car in Nov. 2015, completely forgot to tax it when it came around to 1 year old (I know, silly silly boy). We had moved houses and were in the process of changing V5's, and didn't receive the tax reminder to the house we were living in.
We have all our cars paid via direct debit for Road tax, and don't try to beat the system, it was an honest mistake.
Received a fine for £85. Caught just shy of 2 months after tax due date - shall I just pay the darn fine or is there any way we can appeal for a reduction?
Rang up, had to pay nearly £200, including back-dating the missed tax and admin fee's for processing the legal extortion.
Not trying to start WW3 here, and I know how forums are; I was purely asking for advise to the situation.
Yes, I was wrong and didn't do things in time. No, I wasn't whinging about being caught. My issue here (and one which is not going to change the system one bit), is the immediate prosecution for something which was an honest mistake. I can clearly afford to pay the VED, as I do with my other cars, along with MOT, fuel, Insurance etc - I wouldn't knowingly try to bypass the tax I pay to use my vehicle, I just forgot.
Oh well, lesson learned.
Not trying to start WW3 here, and I know how forums are; I was purely asking for advise to the situation.
Yes, I was wrong and didn't do things in time. No, I wasn't whinging about being caught. My issue here (and one which is not going to change the system one bit), is the immediate prosecution for something which was an honest mistake. I can clearly afford to pay the VED, as I do with my other cars, along with MOT, fuel, Insurance etc - I wouldn't knowingly try to bypass the tax I pay to use my vehicle, I just forgot.
Oh well, lesson learned.
The 'fine' ended up at almost £200 in the end, in hindsight I'd have like it to be just £85 ... 
As someone up above keeps harping on about; I didn't choose to not pay, we were in the process of moving into our first owned house which needed building works as soon as we got the keys so we were very much focused on other things. I know this issue wouldn't have happened had the reminder gone to the correct (new) address, or the landlady/new tenant had bothered to forward our post .. (Again, Royal mail divert could have helped that one).
All in, we're lucky it wasn't more - moral of the story for us is to ensure that all documents are 100%! It's a shame, its knocked us back on what was an already tight budget having spaffed all our money on the house/move/decorating.
As someone up above keeps harping on about; I didn't choose to not pay, we were in the process of moving into our first owned house which needed building works as soon as we got the keys so we were very much focused on other things. I know this issue wouldn't have happened had the reminder gone to the correct (new) address, or the landlady/new tenant had bothered to forward our post .. (Again, Royal mail divert could have helped that one).
All in, we're lucky it wasn't more - moral of the story for us is to ensure that all documents are 100%! It's a shame, its knocked us back on what was an already tight budget having spaffed all our money on the house/move/decorating.
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