Free Traffic Legal Advice

Update: Thanks for the help everyone this case has now been resolved with me paying the original cost of £94!

After taking in the responses here & getting some advice from a motor solicitor (who said the judge would just ammend the incorrect location in court).

I decided in the end to plead guilty but explain the situation to DVLA in the mitigating circumstances box. I told them I had no problem with paying the original fine in the beginning but them giving the wrong location & no evidence made things harder. I asked them to take that into account when deciding my fine.

A case officer then called me a few days later & said he read my response. Asked if I wanted to settle out of court at the price of the original fine!

If you pay the £94 is that it? Or could they still come after you for more later.

If that’s it take it, it will cost you more than £94 to take a day off work even if by some miracle you win in court.

Too late for £94 now. If I plead guilty I guess I'll be paying around £700+ & if I lose in court I guess I'll be paying £1100+ but I don't have much to lose at this point tbh

Luckily they responded to my email today & gave me access to the evidence. They did have pictures of my car on the road, but as my friend said it was parked on his road & not the location stated by NSL.

They have 3 pictures of my car but nothing with an address or road name. I think I will try to fight it in court

I've literally responded to people trying to help me. Where have I repeated the same question?

When the police or DVLA make an allegation and offer you an out-of-court disposal to settle the matter without prosecution, they do not have to provide you with evidence (though they sometimes do). Your choice is either to accept their offer or face prosecution.

That is the position you are in. If you further decline their offer they will almost certainly prosecute you. They will then have to provide you with the evidence they intend to rely on to convict you and you can choose to plead guilty or not guilty. If you are convicted you will be sentenced in accordance with the Magistrates’ sentencing guidelines.

Have you enquired of your friend to establish whether the allegation might be justified (i.e. did he take the car off his drive)?

Wow ok I find that quite unfair. After looking online I saw other people with cases of their car being falsely flagged in the wrong location by NSL & then when they asked for proof their case was eventually dropped.

Thanks for the information. If I am correct is the sentencing a £1000 fine?

My friend said they may have moved it once but just outside their house & not at the location or time where DVLA & NSL stated.

If their evidence is incorrect & they don't have proof of my car being at the location stated do I have any chance to win this case?

Hey guys, I recently received a letter from DVLA threatening to take me to court over an allegation of having an unlicensed vehicle sighted on a public road. They are asking me to plead guilty or not guilty.

This relates to my previous car, which has been left parked on my friends front driveway & SORNED off road for a few months. But DVLA said an NSL van saw it on a  different road which is 5 mins away (at 5am) & not at the location it is parked currently.

Timeline of Events:

15/10/24: I received a letter from DVLA demanding £94 for an alleged sighting of my vehicle. However, they provided no proof or evidence of this claim.

In response, I denied the allegation and supplied a photo of my car on my friend’s driveway, along with a Google Maps location. I also requested evidence from DVLA to support their allegation.

DVLA’s Response: They informed me that the sighting was made by NSL wheel-clamping contractors and advised me to contact NSL directly for evidence.

NSL’s Response: After I emailed NSL, they responded requesting an excessive amount of personal information including: my driving licence or passport, proof of address (dated within 3 months), a copy of the V5C logbook, and a photo of the VIN on the vehicle JUST for them to even look into this matter further. So once again I was left with no evidence.

At the time I received NSLs response, I was traveling abroad and could not provide these documents immediately. However, I also found their request unusual and excessive & wasn't sure if this was some sort of scam. In the past, DVLA has always included proof of any allegation with their fines & never required such information of me before.

Now a few months later I have received another letter threatening to take me to court but still haven't seen any evidence. They have also stated that I disputed their claim but provided them with no supporting evidence even though I sent them pictures of where my car is parked.

I would've been ok with paying the original fine if I had seen proof but definitely not without it & not sure how I can defend myself fairly without seeing any evidence after contacting the 2 parties involved.

I am planning to plead not guilty & fight it in court but is there any other advice anyone can give me here?

Apologies also, I have read through the latest letter again and it is actually NOW being referred to the adjucator and then they will decide if the matter is listed for appeal or not.

Then they will decide if I have to pay the penalty charge or charge certificate cost.

Hi Bert, I just went fishing tbh as I had nothing to lose. Basically I had 2 different speeding offences at the time & one included a certificate & this one didn't. So I found that strange. I then requested the certificate from the police and after checking saw it was out of date.

However, I did come across other advice online saying that you actually can email the police directly if the certificate is out of date & it is up to them whether they cancel it or not based on that.

Maybe I got lucky who knows but I'm sure there are guidelines for speed equipment for a reason. If those guidelines haven't been followed then how is it fair to then charge someone when the evidence may not be 100% correct? It therefore puts the evidence into question.

If necessary I can leave a draft of what I emailed to help others in future