Free Traffic Legal Advice

Is the name & address on the Notice of Enforcement correct and current?

This sort of situation usually occurs due to an out of date address held by the DVLA for the registered keeper of the vehicle.

So please dig out the V5c registration document for your car and check that the RK's name and address is correct and current. Don't don't assume it is, actually check.

Thanks @Enceladus

I have checked the V5c & the addresses match. It makes it all the more puzzling/frustrating as I’m usually all over any PCN’s that come in.

Thanks @Enceladus

I have checked the V5c & the addresses match. It makes it all the more puzzling/frustrating as I’m usually all over any PCN’s that come in.

Obviously the bailiff knows your current address because they have tracked you down. Their livelihood depends on this, but the issue is what was the address on your V5 on the contravention date of May 2022 ? Was it correct and still the same today ?  The usual reason we find on this forum for cases where none of the statutory enforcement documents are not received, is a failure to update the V5 on a change of address.

If you are going to submit an Out-of-Time Statutory Declaration, you will need to give some explanation why you didn't receive these. You've actually missed three - (1) original PCN, (2) Charge Certificate and (3) Order for Recovery. It tests credibility to say all three must have been lost in the post.

BTW, HCA's advice is sound, because whether your OOT is accepted or not has nothing to do with whether you've paid the bailiffs.

I did move house in late 2021 & remember having to switch my address. I’m now wondering if I did that straight away or forgot about it until much later. I’ll look into it. If the above, it sounds like my own fault so I may have to file it under experience & accept it. 

As per Enceladus, DVLA website shows V5C last changed 11 Feb. 2022.


OP, you will be submitting an OOT with statutory declaration to the effect that you did not receive the PCN.

But why did you not? Now's the time to examine all possibilities, which include:

1 Inputting your post code into here [ https://www.royalmail.com/find-a-postcode] and checking that your V5C address is one of the drop-down options;
2. Asking the authority for copies of the PCN, CC and OfR and if they won't on request then submitting a Subject Access Request.

Why 1, because the Royal Mail delivers to addresses from the post code upwards and if you know your address in a different format from postcodefinder then the post code-which is RM's primary sorting tool- won't neccesarily get it to you.

Why 2, because all you know is that the enforcement agent's address matches your V5C and not that this is the address used by the authority for your notices. But surely it must be? Should be, yes. Must be, no. I have very recent experience of missing notices which was finally resolved - after a Notice of Enforcement was received- by discovering that the council had misformatted and misprinted DVLA data. The only things certain in life are death and taxes! Neither the Pope nor local councils are infallible.

Thank you all for your replies.

Re: Point 1. I have checked the postcode and it is in the Royal Mail drop down list. For point 2 I have emailed Hounslow council and requested the documents.

The only other thing I can think of is that, in my street, there is a block of apartments with the same postcode and one of the flats has the same number as my house. On a couple of occasions Deliveroo drivers have attempted to take a food delivery to this address. They had been focusing on the number rather than the name of the apartment block. I wonder if the correspondence has been sent to another address with Royal Mail making the same mistake as Deliveroo!

for that to happen three times would be extremely unlucky and unlikely!

It would also mean you're missing other post unless, as previously alluded to, perhaps the council have done a f'up and transcribed the address wrong, perhaps erroneously matching it to the apartment block.

You'll have to await the docs to confirm.