Guilty or not guilty plea insurance related

[stitch99]

Hi,

Can someone help please asking for my son?

Doing a Statutory Declaration for not receiving the court documents for not insuring or doing SORN as moved house. The local court have provided the original papers and the hearing is Monday. The forms then say he needs to plead to the offence.
The car was collected to go to auction after being repossessed, a month before the DVLA court papers state the offence occurred. He has the receipt from the collection company. I posted the V5 for him.

What does he plead?

Thanks for your help

[HandyAndy]

Was he still shown as the Registered Keeper on the date in question? If he wasn't, does he have an acknowledgement from the DVLA that he was no longer the RK?

[stitch99]

Yes, he was the RK.
He had moved in with me after a mental health crisis and I had reminded him to make sure that he changed his address on everything. He was convinced that he had notified them of change of address. This was July '21.
The V5 for change of ownership was sent off with an accompanying letter in October '21. No acknowledgement was received.
During this period, he was also dealing with the DVLA over his driving licence as it had been revoked. It has now been reinstated. I know the DVLA lose things as they lost my cheque, even though it had been paid in, to cover the cost of his licence.

[HandyAndy]

I'm confused. Could you please provide a timeline of events.

When did he move house?
When was the vehicle recovered?
When did he inform the DVLA that he was no longer the RK?
When do the DVLA say the alleged offence occurred?

In summary, if he was shown as the RK at the time of the allegation and no insurance was in place (or the vehicle not declared SORN) then he is guilty of failing to insure the vehicle. This offence is non-endorseable and carries a fine only. He may be able to persuade the court to exercise some leniency in view of the circumstances but a not guilty plea is almost certain not to end well.

There is a possibility that he may be acquitted if the offence occurred between the date he informed the DVLA and the date of the offence (i.e. when the change of RK was "in the post") but the dates are needed to confirm that. As well as that, if that is the case, he will almost certainly need some proof that the change was sent to the DVLA.

[stitch99]

Moved July 21
Car repossessed 14/10/21
Sent form to DVLA 15/10/21 unfortunately sent without proof of postage
DVLA said offence 17/11/21

[HandyAndy]

He could try a Not Guilty plea and face a trial, where he will have to convince the court that the DVLA was informed as you say. They might see it his way, they might not. The weakness in that is that he did not contact the DVLA when he received no acknowledgement of the change of RK. But the court may see it his way as a year ago the DVLA was in quite a bit of disarray. As well as that he had nothing to gain by failing to inform them.

[stitch99]

Thank you for your help HANDYANDY.

He has decided to plead guilty and put the details in mitigation. He is finding the whole thing very stressful as diagnosed with bipolar.

[HandyAndy]

I think that's probably wise. Although a trial in a Magistrates' Court is nothing like the ordeal of a Crown Court Trial (especially as portrayed on the telly!) it's still stressful for anybody who is not familiar with the process and not confident enough to handle close questioning.

I think the mitigation is strong and should see a minimal fine imposed. As I said, the offence does not carry an endorsement.

[stitch99]

I think that's probably wise. Although a trial in a Magistrates' Court is nothing like the ordeal of a Crown Court Trial (especially as portrayed on the telly!) it's still stressful for anybody who is not familiar with the process and not confident enough to handle close questioning.

I think the mitigation is strong and should see a minimal fine imposed. As I said, the offence does not carry an endorsement.

Well , my son's statutory declaration was accepted. He then pleaded guilty and read out his mitigation.
The magistrates decided that they couldn't rule on it and said that it had to transfer to a DVLA Court.

They told him to write to the court and include everything he had said in mitigation and other things after questioning. The magistrates came across as not very pleased with CDER Group, as they had insisted on him paying £67 after they contacted him about the fine. CDER also said that it would take 10 -12 weeks to do the statutory declaration and had to do a payment plan.

[atticus]

What was he doing, dealing with "debt management" sharks?

[HandyAndy]

The magistrates decided that they couldn't rule on it and said that it had to transfer to a DVLA Court.

I believe that's a good sign. There was obviously not a DVLA prosecutor in court that day (in most courts they only appear once every week or two). I imagine the Magistrates believe there is a good chance that a prosecutor with authority to make decisions on the DVLA's behalf might "take a view" (i.e. possibly discontinue the matter) when acquainted with all the facts.

Thanks for getting back. Do let us know how it turns out.

[stitch99]

Update. We got to court. Supposed to be a case management to decide facts of case. They first asked my son to plead. He said not guilty, which surprised me.
DVLA prosecutor said he thought it was case management, and then proceeded to outline the case. The prosecutor said that my son was still down as the registered keeper. A woman (don't know her position/ role) then said we have received a letter from you (my son) shall I read it for you. Which she did. The magistrates then said to go to trial on 13/1/23.
My son then asked that as he had sent part of V5 to DVLA could he do anything now about notifying that he is not the registered keeper based at his old address ( He did not know he had to send all of V5) Prosecutor said you should not have the log book.
My son is going to try contacting DVLA tomorrow to try and sort out what to do.
I really am worried about him defending himself in court as he is getting really stressed with his bipolar.