Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency

3. Mr A complains that the DVLA issued a Late Licensing Penalty for failing to tax his vehicle, for which there was no cost.

4. Mr A says DVLA’s actions have caused him to be embarrassed, hurt and saddened. He also says its errors have left him mentally disturbed.

5. Mr A asks that DVLA removes the penalty and apologises to him for its actions.

6. DVLA sent Mr A a V11X vehicle tax reminder to advise him that his vehicle tax was due to end on 30 November 2019. This stated that tax was required even if there was no charge associated with this.

7. DVLA sent a ‘last chance’ reminder to Mr A on 14 December when he had not taxed his vehicle by 1 December.

8. On 23 January 2020, DVLA issued a penalty to Mr A for failure to tax his vehicle. This was £80 but would be reduced to £40 if paid by 25 February.

9. Mr A taxed his vehicle on 30 January. He also complained to DVLA about the penalty and was told this was valid and due for payment. The Independent Complains Assessor reached the same conclusion.

10. Mr A confirms the penalty remains unpaid as of June 2022. He has received debt collection correspondence relating to this, but not for some time.

13. Before we decide if we should investigate a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what happened with what should have happened. We have done this, and we have not found any indication that something has gone wrong.

14. Mr A complains about the penalty he received from DVLA because he did not tax his vehicle.

15. He explains that he did not tax his vehicle because he did not know he had to. He says that although he received the correspondence about this, he disregarded it. He explains that this was because he thought that DVLA had sent this in error.

16. Our Principles say that public organisations should communicate effectively and ensure that customers are aware of their rights and responsibilities.

17. The Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, sets out that vehicle excise duty (more commonly referred to as car tax) is required for all vehicles. There is usually a fee associated with this, subject to several exceptions. One of these exceptions (at the time in question) was vehicles with low carbon dioxide emissions, under six years of age, with a list price of under £40,000, and registered after 1 April 2017. Mr A’s vehicle fell into this category.

18. This means that, although Mr A had an obligation to ensure his vehicle was taxed, there was no cost associated with this.

19. DVLA sent Mr A a V11X vehicle tax reminder (undated) to advise him that his vehicle tax was due to end on 30 November 2019. The letter provided him with three options: to tax the vehicle for 12 months at no charge, to make a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) or to notify DVLA that he was no longer the owner of the vehicle.

20. The letter states in bold text ‘it is your responsibility to make sure the vehicle is taxed, even if you don’t pay a fee for the vehicle tax’.

21. On 14 December, DVLA wrote to Mr A. This letter starts with the words ‘last chance’ and explains that he had not taxed his vehicle or made a SORN by 1 December as he should have done. It also refers to a fine being due if the vehicle remained without tax or a SORN and explains that the vehicle must be kept off the road until this is done.

22. Mr A complains that DVLA ‘failed to inform [him] that this charge was not for ‘paying a tax’ (which [he] didn’t need to) but for not registering at a post office (which [he] did on 30/01/2020).’ Having considered Mr A’s understanding of the situation, it appears this is incorrect.

23. The documentation DVLA sent to Mr A does not refer to him needing to pay his vehicle tax. Rather, this states that he is required to tax his vehicle. The literature he received makes it clear that this is the case even if there is no payment due for the tax. Both the V11X and letter of 14 December 2019 clearly explained that tax was required even if this was not chargeable.

24. We consider that DVLA communicated clearly, and appropriately advised Mr A of his responsibilities relating to car tax. This was in line with our Principles. We have not seen any indications of failings on DVLA’s part in it requiring Mr A to tax his vehicle.

25. On 23 January 2020, DVLA issued Mr A with a penalty for failure to tax his vehicle. The letter explained that because Mr A had not taxed his car or declared it off road since 1 December 2019 (the day after his previous tax expired), he was breaking the law.

26. Accordingly, DVLA implemented an £80 penalty to be paid by 19 March, but which it would reduce to £40 if paid by 25 February. Additionally, the letter confirmed Mr A had no tax arrears owed but reiterated that he needed to tax the vehicle or complete a SORN.

27. This was done in accordance with the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994. This also says that a penalty is a consequence of failing to comply with the obligations set out within it. Mr A did not fulfil those obligations. We are, therefore, satisfied that DVLA was right to issue the penalty.

28. We note that Mr A has received contact from debt collection agencies regarding the unpaid penalty. We acknowledge the distress he tells us this has caused but this did not arise as a result of DVLA doing anything wrong. It could have been prevented by taking the action the DVLA clearly outlined in its correspondence from November 2019 onwards.

1. We have carefully considered Mr A’s complaint about Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). We have seen no indication that anything went wrong.

2. We consider that DVLA provided Mr A with clear information about needing to tax his vehicle, despite there being no charge for doing so. We also consider DVLA correctly issued a penalty when Mr A did not do this.