Author Topic: Sold my car to WBAC, I forgot to update the V5C. New owner has had several parking fines from Luton Council.  (Read 61 times)

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Hi,

Last year I sold my car to WBAC, it was in such a bad condition we honestly assumed it would be scrapped. I moved house not long after, but in the chaos of the legal process I forgot to send off the V5C (fully accept that this was my responsibility, this was my first time selling a car).

WBAC must have sold it to a new person, who has now racked up around £400 in fines for parking in Luton. I recently picked up some post from the buyer of my old home, and to my horror I found these fines.

I've just updated the DVLA on the correct dates of when I sold the car, but I am wondering what is the best approach when tackling these fines. I have evidence of the sale, I have the bank transcript showing payment from WBAC etc. Should I just call Luton Council and explain the situation?

I'm really concerned as I am not in the financial position to pay these fines. I understand I should have updated the V5C when I sold the car, I will never forget that again!

Looking for any and all advice on this, thank you in advance.

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This needs to be moved from private parking forum


The mods will move it to council parking forum

What have you received - notices to owner? Charge certificates? Order for recovery?

All parking contraventions?

What are they - list type and dates, or post them here.

You must make representations or file a witness statement within deadline.

Sorry, but your thread is a bit hard to follow.

You say the new owner has received a rack of PCNs that are actually down to you ? These must, therefore,  be postal PCNs, because any served at the roadside are the responsibility of the owner at the time and date on the PCN.

So this means the V5C name and address must have been updated when WBAC sold the car on. The recipient can submit representations that the PCNs are dated before he bought the car, and provide proof of purchase; council must then cancel the PCNs and can then lawfully serve second ones to the owner on the date of the contravention.

We do really need to see the PCNs, with their date of contravention and compare it to the date of the PCN and your date the sale was completed. The new owner should be able to get the PCNs cancelled, but the council will then serve new ones to you or maybe WBAC. The plain fact is that even if you had the V5C updated at time of sale, you will be chased for any of them prior to that date.

I assume you have all the sale paperwork. There is a process when a car is sold into the "trade" which I am not up-to-speed on, but my understanding is that the V5C is immediately changed, (or should be) to be "in trade"

Who is WBAC?

As per others, let's see the docs pl or at least a concise summary. As per Incandescent's post, in law you are only liable for contraventions occurring while you were the 'owner', so a simple timeline would help. For example:

Sold car to WBAC on *****. Vehicle registration number *****.

Dates of PCN contraventions......

And importantly: I've just updated the DVLA on the correct dates of when I sold the car,

..and they've undertaken to do what, for example to backdate your record as registered keeper to the actual date of sale? Do you have anything in writing?


This also doesn't make sense because if you sold it to WBAC, that would be taking it into trade.  We Buy Any Car would only complete the sale if the V5 is updated to them.  They can only sell the car on if they have a valid V5 to transfer it to the new owner.  What happened at that stage?  New owner buys the car and WBAC say "oh, we don't have a V5, Maloker never submitted it so we'll just ignore it and carry on selling the car to you".  It just can't happen like that!

Quote
Who is WBAC?

"We Buy Any Car"

Its an offshoot of one of the major car auctioneers, as I understand it. So they are motor traders like any other.