Vehicle impounded by police questions

[courty]

My son in law bought a UK registered clk220 from copart two years ago, structural write off.
The car was trailered to Romania, repaired with inspection certificate and registered in Romania as an imported vehicle.
However, neither the Romanian authorities , nor my son in law notified dvla of export.
One year ago, son in law drove the car back to the uk with romanian plates, insurance etc. and has used it in Britain since.
Today, two local coppers pulled the car over and inspected the vin.
They identified the car as a uk, non taxed, insurance write off and had the car impounded, using the original uk plates as i.d. on the police system.
They issued no paperwork except a generic leaflet about taxing your vehicle, and a telephone number of the recovery company.
Questions: should the car have been impounded, it was on Romanian plates and the driver was in possession of insurance certificate and regestration doc. which were not acceptable to the two officers?

Any advice please as to how my son in law could contest this police action, or whether he will just have to pay any fine and belatedly notify the dvla of export...
The other issue, and it might be better, is that the car will be sold in Britain, so maybe the better way is to cough up and apply to dvla for new v5? Just I don't know exactly whether they will issue one on the back of the structural write off...!!

[Scrump]

A slight aside (maybe) but I thought foreign registered cars could only be in the UK for up to six months before needing to be UK registered. If it has been here for a year then might cause another layer of complexity.

[Centurion07]

courty said:

My son in law bought a UK registered clk220 from copart two years ago, structural write off.
The car was trailered to Romania, repaired with inspection certificate and registered in Romania as an imported vehicle.
However, neither the Romanian authorities , nor my son in law notified dvla of export.
One year ago, son in law drove the car back to the uk with romanian plates, insurance etc. and has used it in Britain since.
Today, two local coppers pulled the car over and inspected the vin.
They identified the car as a uk, non taxed, insurance write off and had the car impounded, using the original uk plates as i.d. on the police system.
They issued no paperwork except a generic leaflet about taxing your vehicle, and a telephone number of the recovery company.
Questions: should the car have been impounded, it was on Romanian plates and the driver was in possession of insurance certificate and regestration doc. which were not acceptable to the two officers?

Any advice please as to how my son in law could contest this police action, or whether he will just have to pay any fine and belatedly notify the dvla of export...
The other issue, and it might be better, is that the car will be sold in Britain, so maybe the better way is to cough up and apply to dvla for new v5? Just I don't know exactly whether they will issue one on the back of the structural write off...!!

So it's been used continually over here for the past year or has been coming and going back to Romania? Had/has it been repaired?

[courty]

Scrump said:

A slight aside (maybe) but I thought foreign registered cars could only be in the UK for up to six months before needing to be UK registered. If it has been here for a year then might cause another layer of complexity.

Hi, yes,
I just found out some more info. from the leaflet given by the cops.
Turns out it has been impounded because son in law is residing in the uk and therefore should have registered the car and taxed it in the uk.
He can get the car from the pound and do this.
The problem maybe if dvla have no record of export etc.
He will have to cross that bridge when it comes...complicated.
But yes, I have now explained to son in law why he has had the car impounded! Lol. 🙄

[sociopath]

Drives car for a year without registering or paying VED.

Wheres my popcorn?

[MrC986]

Courty, your son has, I suspect, been pulled for no RFL, insurance & also lack of MOT - if he’s watched the likes of Police Interceptors or Traffic Cops it’s a familiar thing & something I’m sure is becoming more common.

[Easternlight]

sociopath said:

Drives car for a year without registering or paying VED.

Wheres my popcorn?

What sort of structural write off was it, was it ever meant to be on the road again? (in the UK)
Why was the DVLA not notified of the export?
I stand to be corrrected but I'm betting Romanian repair standards my not be the same as UK.

Can I share your popcorn?

[mick987]

sociopath said:

Drives car for a year without registering or paying VED.

Wheres my popcorn?

Why would he have to pay VED it has already been paid?

[martinbiz]

courty said:

My son in law bought a UK registered clk220 from copart two years ago, structural write off.

Any advice please as to how my son in law could contest this police action

Not sure he can, he seems to have broken just about every rule in the book.

Depending on the category the car was given at the time that it was deemed a total loss, it may that it is only suitable for breaking for parts and should never have been put back on the road

I would think it is likely to be crushed and your son I L liable for any recovery / storage costs, plus any fines that may be due

[Mikebentley]

So, car is recorded as being a “write off” and so severely structurally damaged it is marked as being not able to return to the Uk roads....ever. Enterprising Romanian gentleman purchases said vehicle and has it repaired in Romania and registered there. He then drives it back to and in the Uk for 12 months before it is impounded by plod. I imagine he may need to return it to Romania and cash in his asset.

Is there any room on the virtual sofa....I have my own popcorn.

[grudas]

Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

[InitialDave]

I assume a RHD car on foreign plates is what triggered him being pulled, on the basis the car may have been stolen or was falsely running the Romanian plates in an attempt to dodge UK tax and insurance?

Is there an explanation for why it wasn't registered as being exported when it went to Romania?

[courty]

Mikebentley said:

So, car is recorded as being a “write off” and so severely structurally damaged it is marked as being not able to return to the Uk roads....ever. Enterprising Romanian gentleman purchases said vehicle and has it repaired in Romania and registered there. He then drives it back to and in the Uk for 12 months before it is impounded by plod. I imagine he may need to return it to Romania and cash in his asset.

Is there any room on the virtual sofa....I have my own popcorn.

I don't know the details as to the original write off, except it had to have an inspection in Romania.
Anyway, yes, I think it may well end up being sent back to Romania..regegerstering in the uk may well prove to be difficult.
Anyway, he has been planning to buy a uk registered Prius, so, yes, plod have done the right thing and speeded up the decision making process. Basically, as I understand it, they have given him 56 days to sort it out, which seems very reasonable.

[Centurion07]

mick987 said:

Why would he have to pay VED it has already been paid?

Erm, because it hasn't and should have?

OP's son is a tool.

[courty]

Just to clarify,
I posted because I initially thought the cops had done him for running a uk car on false romanian plates, which wasn't the case.
However, it turns out they have taken the car because he has lived here, but not registered and taxed the car with dvla.
So, case closed.
Going forward, he can either register and tax the car with dvla, or get it trailered/drive it back to Romania.

[Lonely]

courty said:

Basically, as I understand it, they have given him 56 days to sort it out, which seems very reasonable.

But make sure he's not going to get a storage bill for each day it's sat there!

[courty]

InitialDave said:

Is there an explanation for why it wasn't registered as being exported when it went to Romania?

Whether it was registered as exported or not I don't know for sure.
The V5 was surrendered to the Romanian authorities and the export slip not returned by son in law to dvla...

[courty]

InitialDave said:

I assume a RHD car on foreign plates is what triggered him being pulled, on the basis the car may have been stolen or was falsely running the Romanian plates in an attempt to dodge UK tax and insurance?

Yes, I initially thought this hence the topic, and son in law thought they were doing him for running false plates, but it turns out it was for using a eu car while residing in the Uk.
They allow seasonal workers to bring their cars, but not those living here for longer than 6 months at a time. Simple rules which I wasn't aware of...but son in law now has been educated on this lol.

[courty]

Lonely said:

courty said:

Basically, as I understand it, they have given him 56 days to sort it out, which seems very reasonable.

But make sure he's not going to get a storage bill for each day it's sat there!

Yes, £100 for the first 24 hours, plus £121 for the second 24hrs, plus £21 per day thereafter up to two weeks, then it will be crushed if not redeemed.
Plus £160 deposit, redeemable up to 56 days from impound date on production of proof of Dvla v5 and tax.

[martinbiz]

Lonely said:

But make sure he's not going to get a storage bill for each day it's sat there!

That is very likely