SORN Warning

[fido]

My Velocette LE has been off the road since the day I took it for MoT a couple of years ago. I have 2 other vehicles that are currently off the road and these are kept up to date on SORN because I get a tax renewal notice every 12 months. To be honest I had not even noticed that I've not received renewal forms for the LE but when I was checking that I had important documents by me for when I move house I realised that I have never had a SORN confirmation letter for the LE. When I first got it, the bike had been off the road for many years, long before the SORN scheme started. I don't know if that has had a lasting effect on the status of the bike but I seem to recall at one time I was not obliged to SORN it if it was not taxed.
I did the SORN declaration online and was told that I had committed an offence because it had not been taxed or SORNed since 2009. If they try to fine me or whatever I will say in mitigation that the oversight was due to the failure of DVLA to send reminders but I thought I would pass this on to urge other UK members to check the taxation situation of any unused vehicles they may own.
He who can, does. He who cannot, moderates.

[AlanBeckett]

I had a similar problem with my old 350EA - GTO841N. I emailed the DVLA and have a reply stating that I don't need to do anything. I'm keeping that email safe
Alan

[Andy - G8MNM]

Fido,

I had an issue with DVLA over Sorn a couple of years ago. I wrote several letters to the SORN Dept.
I was informed that reminders were not obligatory and that failing to declare SORN because a reminder had not been received was not considered a valid excuse (If in fact DVLA will accept any excuse atall!)
I even wrote to my MP because I found the SORN documents to be offensive and threatening - threats of this fine that fine, imprisonment if you did this or didn't do that.
I didn't get a very enlightened reply. Something to the effect that the document was a legal document and as such had to be worded in that manner.
Andy

[Yorkie]

I did the SORN declaration online and was told that I had committed an offence because it had not been taxed or SORNed since 2009. If they try to fine me or whatever I will say in mitigation that the oversight was due to the failure of DVLA to send reminders but I thought I would pass this on to urge other UK members to check the taxation situation of any unused vehicles they may own.
He who can, does. He who cannot, moderates.

You use the term 'mitigation' and it's important to understand the difference between a 'defence' which might eneable a finding of not guilty to a charge, and that of 'mitigation', which is not a 'defence' - it's an explanation of the circumstances in which an offence was committed, which - if accepted by a court -would lessen the penatly that would otherwise have been imposed.

Unfotunately, this type of offence (SORN) is known as an 'absolute offence' - an offence of 'strict liability', which means that it isn't necessary for the DVLA to prove that the offence was committed with criminal intent. Basically, whether it was an oversight or misundersanding, or done with criminal intent, the outcome is the same - if you've done it, you've done it. Examples are speeding, no insurance, no excise licence/SORN, not MOT. Another example is no TV licence.

Examples of how people might unwittingly commit such offences would be when someone is bereaved and their spouse had always looked after household affairs, and they're in a muddle trying to sort things out. Or you move house, and though you'd notified the insurance company of your change of address, they'd failed to send your renewal notice to your new abode, and with so much going on in your life, your insurance expires, and you genuinely forget that it was due for renewal. It might reduce the fine if the explanation is accepted, (as it probably would be in a Magistrates' Court if you had no such previous convictions and are of good character), but it wouldn't stop six penalty points being imposed, or - if you tot to 12 points - a possible disqualification.

SORN offences carry a fixed penalty of £80.00, so any mitigation would have no bearing on that, any more than it would a fixed penalty parking fine. You don't, as I see it, have a defence, but you do have an explanation. I think that the the best way to try to avoid a fine is to ensure that before such a notice is issued, you give the fullest explanation - that the vehicle is off the road, unroadworthy, is a classic vehicle - not for daily transport, and that you have other vehicles that you use, which are taxed and insured, so have no need or intention to use the vehicle. Also, that it was you who brought the matter to the attention of the DVLA when you realised the oversight, doing what you had to do right away, to correct the oversight. That might be sufficient for them to not issue the notice.

Personally, I wouldn't wait to see what happens, wondering with each new day whether or not a fine notice will appear on your doormat - I'd take the initiative and drop them a line, outlining the circumstances. The SORN system was of course brought in to reduce evasion and related offences, because invariably, it's not just the tax, it's the fact that to tax a vehicle requires that it has insurance and an MOT, and many if not most, untaxed vehicles don't have insurance or an MOT. Unfortunately, others such as yourself, get ensnared in all of this.

Hope that helps a bit.

David