Asking the court for sympathy.

[LEY1990]

Good afternoon,

Apologies if a similar post has been answered already if so please copy said thread so i can educate my self.

To cut a long story short, i was involved in a traffic accident to which my car was written off. The insurance company disposed of the vehicle and i received a cheque for the car.

6 months later i received a fine for being the registered keeper of an uninsured car. I promptly rang the DVLA and they said to respond with a letter explaining the situation. i did this.

i also spoke to my insurance company who said it was my responsibility to declare the car off the road.

since posting the letter a further 3 months later i have received a requisition to attend court for the charge of Owning a vehicle that was uninsured.

i am currently writing a letter to the court and the DVLA, i am pleading guilty however at the time of the accident i had just started a degree in nursing and quite honestly my brain was frazzled. i wonder if pleading leniency and ignorance would get me a reduced fine.

i have proof of Uni attendance etc and correspondence from my insurance company stating they were disposing of the vehicle.

This is just a thought as i have been given a lot of conflicting advice as to whether to plead guilty or not guilty.

Primarily i want the cheapest option as money is extremely tight.

any advice of thoughts would be amazing.

Thank you.

[PAWS]

Re: Asking the court for sympathy.

Hello Ley1990
Basically the issue is you did not tell the DVLA when the car was scrapped simply because you did not know you had to. Pleading guilty to not insuring a car that you did not own from the moment the insurance company paid you the cheque is not the case. You simply neglected to tell them you no longer owned the car. I know they take a dim view of this when the car is sold on but when it has been scrapped I thought they would have been more lenient. It seems a bit harsh to haul you off to court:mmph: but that is just my opinion. Try not to fret. One of the clever beagles will be along soon with their usual top drawer advice. :okay:

[LEY1990]

Re: Asking the court for sympathy.

I'll give it all i've got. Maximum fine is £1000 fingers crossed i can get that reduced.

thanks for your reply.

[PAWS]

Re: Asking the court for sympathy.

Someone with more legal knowledge will come along soon. All I can say is when I wrote off my car I was very dazed and confused for a few days.:boink:

[des8]

Re: Asking the court for sympathy.

Can you give the exact wording of the requisition.. "owning a vehicle that is uninsured" sounds unlikely. More probably "being the registered keeper of an uninsured vehicle)
I suppose you didn't send to DVLA the V5C/3 notifying change of keeper to the insurance company

Also do you know what happened to the vehicle?
You said "write off"... do you know what category and what the insurance company did with it? If not ask the insurers what has happened to the vehicle, and follow it through to its final destination.

If it was scrapped and crushed it was no longer a vehicle, (and either the insurance company or the vehicle dismantlers[ ATF authorised treatment facility] should have informed the DVLA of this) in which case your requisition would be for not notifying DVLA of a change of keeper. If the vehicle no longer exists how can you be guilty of not insuring it?

If you had taken the vehicle to the ATF yourself they would have given you a CoD (certificate of Destruction) and also they inform the DVLA you are no longer responsible for the vehicle.

Find out what has happened to the vehicle.
Do not tell DVLA of your POSSIBLE defence to a possibly incorrectly worded requisition until you know exactly what the position is.

[enquirer]

Re: Asking the court for sympathy.

Advice as Des8.