Sold a car, DVLA did not "receive" V5, now fine for non SORN
Discussion
Hi there,
I've been a lurker for a while now, but felt I had to post to vent my anger and ask for advice.
Earlier in the year I sold my car, new owner filled in the V5 and I posted it off.
A while later, I received the new SORN/Tax form for the sold car.
On the bottom of this form it clearly stated
"if you are no longer the keeper of this vehicle see section 4 overleaf and disregard this form"
So I disregarded the form.
Since then, I have received a fine for not declaring SORN/renewing tax, despite following DVLAs instructions to the letter, ie, disregarding the SORN form.
I wrote to them explaining this situation and that i had followed their instructions, and have just received another request for £40, as after ignoring their form, I should have followed the instructions on the V5 that I no longer had and wrote to them stating that i hadn't received confirmation that i no longer owned the vehicle!
Now forgive me for not having a photographic memory, but if it states on one form that I should "disregard" it, how am i supposed to remember to do something on a form that had been returned one month previously!
Anyway,
what is the best way to go about fighting this new stealth tax?
Should i request a court hearing to show that i followed their own instructions or write back stating that I couldn't possibly have followed the instructions on the V5, as it had previously been returned to them.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Oh, does anyone else who owns a few cars find that DVLA regularly lose odd bits of paperwork.
I recon at least 15% of my own SORNs, Log book applications and V5 returns seem to go missing.
Convenient isn't it, when its at least £19 a time applying for stuff.
I've been a lurker for a while now, but felt I had to post to vent my anger and ask for advice.
Earlier in the year I sold my car, new owner filled in the V5 and I posted it off.
A while later, I received the new SORN/Tax form for the sold car.
On the bottom of this form it clearly stated
"if you are no longer the keeper of this vehicle see section 4 overleaf and disregard this form"
So I disregarded the form.
Since then, I have received a fine for not declaring SORN/renewing tax, despite following DVLAs instructions to the letter, ie, disregarding the SORN form.
I wrote to them explaining this situation and that i had followed their instructions, and have just received another request for £40, as after ignoring their form, I should have followed the instructions on the V5 that I no longer had and wrote to them stating that i hadn't received confirmation that i no longer owned the vehicle!
Now forgive me for not having a photographic memory, but if it states on one form that I should "disregard" it, how am i supposed to remember to do something on a form that had been returned one month previously!
Anyway,
what is the best way to go about fighting this new stealth tax?
Should i request a court hearing to show that i followed their own instructions or write back stating that I couldn't possibly have followed the instructions on the V5, as it had previously been returned to them.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Oh, does anyone else who owns a few cars find that DVLA regularly lose odd bits of paperwork.
I recon at least 15% of my own SORNs, Log book applications and V5 returns seem to go missing.
Convenient isn't it, when its at least £19 a time applying for stuff.
It difficult, as unless you have proof you sent it, you don't have much to fight with. I'll be honest, I don't send all my stuff to Swansea recorded delivery ( yet ) but I know a few who do, just to avoid this sort of thing.
Its easy to say with hindsight, but when the form for the tax / sworn came through, rather than disregard it, that should have sent alarm bells ringing.
On the other side of the coin, there is an owner out there who cannot tax his ( or her ) car as they do not have the V5 and Swansea are sending everything to you. I don't suppose you have any way of contacting the new owner?
If it was me, I would write a strongly worded letter back to Swansea asking how you can re-fill in the V5 when they have the original? If you want a hassle free life you could just pay the tax, but the trouble with this is that it implies you still own the car, so it could happen next year, and you could also get a few NIP's through, which as the reg keeper, you would be responsible for.
Its easy to say with hindsight, but when the form for the tax / sworn came through, rather than disregard it, that should have sent alarm bells ringing.
On the other side of the coin, there is an owner out there who cannot tax his ( or her ) car as they do not have the V5 and Swansea are sending everything to you. I don't suppose you have any way of contacting the new owner?
If it was me, I would write a strongly worded letter back to Swansea asking how you can re-fill in the V5 when they have the original? If you want a hassle free life you could just pay the tax, but the trouble with this is that it implies you still own the car, so it could happen next year, and you could also get a few NIP's through, which as the reg keeper, you would be responsible for.
sim16v said:
On the bottom of this form it clearly stated
"if you are no longer the keeper of this vehicle see section 4 overleaf and disregard this form"
So I disregarded the form.
When I was in the same position earlier this year, I seem to recall the paperwork sent to me by the DVLA said that if I no longer had the V5 I should contact them in writing to state I was no longer the registered keeper - I did so and received back a few weeks later a confirmation that they'd removed my name from the vehicle record. If the form had simply told me to ignore it then I wouldn't have bothered writing to them, so I'm about 99.9% convinced that the form must have mentioned it somewhere..."if you are no longer the keeper of this vehicle see section 4 overleaf and disregard this form"
So I disregarded the form.
...ah yeah, I see Quinny has confirmed this whilst I was busy replying!
Edited by twister on Tuesday 31st July 22:41
Quinny said:
Hang on.
The form clearly says.
"If you are no longer the keeper of this vehicle see section 4 overleaf and disregard this form"
So go to section 4 and it says
"If you no longer have the vehicle, you should disregard this form and notify DVLA of the change immediatly by completing the appropriate part of the V5C.
If you do not have the V5C you should write to DVLA Swansea SA99 1AR giving the registration mark and make of the vehicle and the name and address of the new keeper.
You should receive an acknowledgement letter within 4 weeks of DVLA receiving your notification.
If you do not receive acknowledgement from us, you should contact Customer Enquiries (Vehicles)- See section 6.
You should note that this form is printed around 6 weeks in advance so any notification you made recently may have updated the DVLA record after this form was printed"
Sounds to me as though you disregarded the form without reading section 4.
Unfortunatly the onus is on you to make sure their records are up to date. I'd pay the £40 and chalk it up to experience.
I disregarded the form as I had returned the V5 earlier.The form clearly says.
"If you are no longer the keeper of this vehicle see section 4 overleaf and disregard this form"
So go to section 4 and it says
"If you no longer have the vehicle, you should disregard this form and notify DVLA of the change immediatly by completing the appropriate part of the V5C.
If you do not have the V5C you should write to DVLA Swansea SA99 1AR giving the registration mark and make of the vehicle and the name and address of the new keeper.
You should receive an acknowledgement letter within 4 weeks of DVLA receiving your notification.
If you do not receive acknowledgement from us, you should contact Customer Enquiries (Vehicles)- See section 6.
You should note that this form is printed around 6 weeks in advance so any notification you made recently may have updated the DVLA record after this form was printed"
Sounds to me as though you disregarded the form without reading section 4.
Unfortunatly the onus is on you to make sure their records are up to date. I'd pay the £40 and chalk it up to experience.
On the latest letter received, it says I should read the notes on the V5, but i had already returned it.
Yes i accept that I did not contact the DVLA after the 4 week period, but surely they should't fine you for not declaring SORN when they actually state that the SORN declaration should be disregarded?
Would a recorded delivery receipt be proof that I had sent the V5 in originally?
Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff