Friend fallen foul of new insurance laws already

[southside]

A mate rang me up earlier asking about the new insurance laws for Sorn e.t.c as he hadn't heard about them.

Basically he got home from work today to find his car clamped for not declaring it as off the road/uninsured.

He's bought a new car so obviously swapped his insurance over onto his new car while he sells his old one (Astra SRi) The tax has also ran out on the Astra end of last month.

Now this is the fun part, the car is parked on a driveway which is a shared driveway but its not a public highway, not council owned and its directly outside his front door. He's rang them up and they're telling him he now needs to re-insure the car, tax it and pay a £60 fine before they'll remove the clamp. If not his car will be towed away off private property and could be crushed.

Im sorry but this new laws a joke. I dont agree with uninsured drivers but clamping peoples cars on private property for not declaring sorn when the new laws only came in yesterday is rediculous. Its not even like he's an unisnsured driver, the car was genuinly for sale due to his new purchase.

Surely theres a better way round this?

[98Ti]

Dude, that's way OTT imo, if they keep on like that I'll be looking to buy shares in a wheel clamp company!

The best way about it would be to stick it up their ar5ses

[harkins77]

Just out of curiosity who is it that has clamped the car? Was it a DVLA authorised person or the council or a cowboy clamper?

[southside]

Just out of curiosity who is it that has clamped the car? Was it a DVLA authorised person or the council or a cowboy clamper?

DVLA

[vinny19791]

I'm guessing due to no tax then...

Worrying

[harkins77]

This is what I've just found when doing a google search. It's on a website called Big Brother Watch.

DVLA to be gain powers to destroy vehicles for forgetting to renew your car insurance

There will be a worrying change to DVLA powers this year, starting in June, which many people remain unaware of. Motorists, who neglect to renew their car insurance, or simply forget, will run the risk of having their car clamped, seized and destroyed. The system is called “Continuous Insurance Enforcement”, and is being billed by ministers as a “fresh weapon against uninsured drivers.”

It means uninsured vehicles no longer have to be spotted on the road to be clamped and seized, as this can now happen even if the car is parked on a driveway. The only exception is if the registered keeper declares the car to be permanently off road, a process which some may find restrictively complicated. Motorists suspected of having no insurance will receive a letter first, then a £100 fixed penalty, followed by a fine of £1,000 if the case goes to court, or the vehicle being clamped, seized or destroyed.

While some dangerous drivers may purposefully avoid insuring their car, there is a huge risk that this law will be implemented in a blanket fashion, catching those that have been on holiday for a long time, or had an enforced stay in a hospital due to illness. It is also very easy to forget to renew something like car insurance and mistakes can happen due to incorrect number plates being registered with insurance companies.

[southside]

I'm guessing due to no tax then...

Worrying

Both tax and insurance apparently

[harkins77]

Reading from that website he should have had several letters before they clamped the vehicle unless I'm reading it wrong.

[lennox1185]

You say the tax ran out in May?

You still need to SORN a car, even if it is off the road. That's been the law for the last 1,000,000,000 years!

They will clamp it if it's not declared sorn or taxed.

[southside]

You say the tax ran out in May?

You still need to SORN a car, even if it is off the road. That's been the law for the last 1,000,000,000 years!

They will clamp it if it's not declared sorn or taxed.

Its been clamped for insurance and tax. Not just tax and to my knowledge up until now they couldn't clamp on private property even for no tax, just would of been a fine through the post. He's had no letters and the car is registered to his address.

[Cableguy]

Cut it off, bin it , sell the car.

[southside]

Cut it off, bin it , sell the car.

I said that but he's worried he'll get fined for the clamp. So i said just send the trade section of logbook off in a fake name and say he sold it to a trader on the day it was clamped.

[Beaker]

Have them arrested for trespassing on private property.

[lennox1185]

If the clamp is on private property, doesn't it become your property?

As above, grind it off and bin it. Say the car was stolen..!

[vinny19791]

Like my 620

[Drew]

grind it off, bin it, say it was never on there. unlikely they would take a photo of a clamp on a car.

Drew

[black_sunrise]

tinky winky joke... yet again this country will be a laughing stock.

[1234dist]

simple case, should have sorn'd it right away......thats what they are trying to achieve, to force people to keep their records up to date.

Sorry to your friend but this has been advertised all over the radio for months..

[peteT16]

DVLA and up to date records, that's a contradiction in terms.

I'd investigate having them done for trespass on private property, cut the clamp off and weigh it in

[l88ajy]

cut the clamp off and weigh it in

+1
if you were local i'd be happy to do it for you

[1234dist]

Unfortunately DVLA is just another name for HMRC which have the right to enter your house if they deem the need, so trespass wouldn't work.

DVLA and up to date records, that's a contradiction in terms.

This is the reason why they wanted new powers to make you do all the work for them, got to remember the government need allot of money and they can't take anymore out of us in a fair way by normal tax as everything is already taxed to hell (i.e. 20% vat 1/5 of everything you buy pays them) so the only thing left is loop holes.

Noticing its the 3rd qtr of the month, when did your friends tax run out?

If it But if its over 3 weeks, can't really use that.

[Bikernut]

What next...breaking into your garage to clamp your car/bike .....
Surely its illegal to clamp on your own premises...

[Dave]

If the car is uninsured, it should have been sorned.

Simple as really.

I know it sounds harsh, but i have no sympathy really. It has been announced in the press/tc/radio etc, so no excuses.

Cheers
Dave

[l88ajy]

thats why at the moment whatever cars i have outside on my private property dont have plates on then they cant confirm they are the cars they are looking for!

[1234dist]

What next...breaking into your garage to clamp your car/bike .....
Surely its illegal to clamp on your own premises...

even if you hide it under your house they can charge/clamp you.

tis what they do

[1234dist]

thats why at the moment whatever cars i have outside on my private property dont have plates on then they cant confirm they are the cars they are looking for!

There is still a vin number in your front window

[l88ajy]

nothing is visable from the outside of my car. i only started blocking numbers once this law came out

im not illegal but they have a habit of hiding things and dont want to be caught out on an hidden law

[Din]

There is still a vin number in your front window

Which an old parking ticket has slipped down behind and coverd it up

[harkins77]

Thing is that if you cut the clamp off then you can be done for criminal damage. Trust me I did up until recently work for the police. It's also the same if a car is parked on private land you do have the authority to either move it or get it moved but if you cause damage to the vehicle you are liable for the damage as criminal damage and then the police will get involved. And before you say the police should move the vehicle because it is on your land your out of luck as well as they have no powers on private land and it would be down to you to find out who the owner is or move the vehicle.

Sorry to go off topic slightly but I thought i'd mention it.

[Jpcoupe]

id just take the clamp off, most of the time there only hooked under the track rod which is easier to undo than cutting the clamp off and at least u havent damaged it doing it this way

my mate has done this twice now and the last time he just put the car in the garden and locked the gates with a big padlock, the recovery truck did come once, a week later but couldnt get in and he never heard anymore about it.

[BlueRover]

My white Mk1 has been on the drive for 10 years (nearly). I SORN'd it the first year when the tax ran out and got a reminder the following year. Nothing since. I think I may contact the DVLA and ask them if I have to re-declare the car SORN just to make sure.

Next thing you know they'll be charging to process a SORN.


B"astard"s

[tyke71]

My coupe is on SORN, but if forsome reason they put a clamp on they couldn't take it away as my cabby is parked in front of it and insured and taxed.

[harkins77]

My white Mk1 has been on the drive for 10 years (nearly). I SORN'd it the first year when the tax ran out and got a reminder the following year. Nothing since. I think I may contact the DVLA and ask them if I have to re-declare the car SORN just to make sure.

Next thing you know they'll be charging to process a SORN.


B"astard"s

You are supposed to re-sorn it every year so yeah I would suggest it might be a good idea just to save you the hassle in case they turn up.

[Null_Byte]

My white Mk1 has been on the drive for 10 years (nearly). I SORN'd it the first year when the tax ran out and got a reminder the following year. Nothing since. I think I may contact the DVLA and ask them if I have to re-declare the car SORN just to make sure.

Needs SORNing every year....

[Cableguy]

My white Mk1 has been on the drive for 10 years (nearly). I SORN'd it the first year when the tax ran out and got a reminder the following year. Nothing since. I think I may contact the DVLA and ask them if I have to re-declare the car SORN just to make sure.

Needs SORNing every year....

And has done for the last 10 years, the new rules dont affect this, they dont affect the OP either, the car was untaxed without a sorn regardless of the insurance issue.