Free Traffic Legal Advice

I received a speeding fine May 2023 (been driving 8 years and this is my first one) but as I had forgotten to update my V5, I never received any correspondence for it as it all went to my old address. It's now gone to court without my knowledge and the first correspondence l've actually received is the final steps notice which states I have to pay £1014 in full within 12 days.

I rung the number on the notice (I believe the fines officer) and they said I can make a statutory declaration that I was unaware of the proceedings against me and the court can reset the clock back to the initial fine. I was going to do this but then upon googling I'm seeing mixed answers about the DVLA fining me up to £1000 for forgetting to update the V5.

So now I don't know if I'd be better off making a statutory declaration of unawareness to have the £1014 reversed back to the initial speeding fine cost, but risk DVLA also fining me up to £1000 for forgetting to update the V5, or just accept the court costs and ask for a payment plan. Which will route will I be less out of pocket with basically?

Thanks

The DVLA cannot fine you. They can offer an "out of court settlement" for certain offences, and can prosecute for those offences if the settlement is declined. Any fine would be issued by the court upon conviction. Anything other than a fine issued by a court upon conviction is not a fine.

In theory you could be fined up to £1000 for failing to update your V5C. In practice, it is rarely prosecuted and if it was, you would be unlikely to be fined anywhere near that amount unless you earned so much money that it wouldn't really matter.
Is that the kind of mixed advice you've been finding?

The “old” address presumably.

There is - I believe - no requirement for either.

MoT is offered by email if requested by an online service.

VED is typically sent by post to an obvious address. However it's a courtesy. If a direct debit (annually or monthly) is set up then reminders are sent by email to the email address specified. However if the direct debit is a one off annual debit they will still be sent to the V5 address.