Late licensing penalty advice

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Thu 30 Oct 2014 17:22
Late licensing penalty advice - Miss Smith
Hi all, new to the forum. I'm hoping someone may be able to offer some advice to me. This is a long story I apologise.

Last week I received a letter from Inter-credit International Ltd saying I had incurred an £80 fine relating to a car that I got rid of in approx July 2011. The letter sated that the date of offence was Oct 2012. The car in question was not being sold on but in fact being scrapped and I handed the log book and all related documents to the garage who were scrapping the car for me. At this time I was not aware of any legal obligations to inform the DVLA or send anything away to them to inform them it was being scrapped. And the garage who we're getting rid of the car was in fact my fathers business.

I phoned the debt recovery company who told me that the DVLA had not received information that the car had been scrapped and had been for the past 2 years trying to reach me at the address the car was registered to when I owned it. I moved from that address in August 2011, one month after I'd got rid of the car.

I spoke to my father who assured me that all the documents had been sent (he's been in the motor industry for 40 years) but the likelihood of him being able to locate any documents was small due to the length of time that has since passed.

So I deceived I would appeal the fine and contacted DVLA who brushed me off and said write and appeal to the enforcement dept and gave me the address. I then contacted the debt recovery company to advise them of my appeal so they didn't think I was not acting on their letter. My credit status is important to me at this time as I am trying to buy a house, the last thing I need is a black mark against my name.

I spoke to a woman from Inter-Credit who basically bullied me into paying the fine. She was rude, she upset me to the point where I was crying on the phone as she would not listen to anything I said and treated me like I was a criminal. She said it was my responsibility to inform DVLA and since I hadn't done that there was nothing I could do.

After I'd paid the fine she said I needed to contact DVLA and request removal as the registered keeper.

Shortly after this took place the post arrived and there was a letter from Inter-credit basically saying what the rude woman told me on the phone but added that I may have also contravened section 31a of the Vehicle excise and Registration act which commands a £1000 fine if convicted!

My question is how do I check if this vehicle is still registered to me and remove myself? I am frightened that I am opening a can of worms and don't know what the content of the letter to the DVLA should be.

If anyone could help I'd be really really grateful. And thanks for reading if you wine to to the end, I appreciate this is a long post.

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Thu 30 Oct 2014 17:36
Late licensing penalty advice - Miss Smith
Sorry wrong area moved to Legal Matters.
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